Return of Giga Bowser
by SoulAzul
Summary: The fanfic of a fanfic (fanfiception?) sequel to Wrath of Giga Bowser, a popular YouTube video (check it out!) Over a decade ago, Giga Bowser unleashed his nigh unstoppable wrath upon the world of Smash. Now, he's somehow returned and now seeks revenge! But it looks like he's got some other motives as well. What could they be? Well, that's why you should read it.
1. Chapter 1

The once jovial stadium that harbored many lively souls was now a nothing more than burning ruins. A pile of corpses was littered across the field next to and around a gash made in a section of the bleachers. From a bird's eye view, it looked like the burning tip of a lit cigarette. Inside the stadium lay the bodies of many fatigued heroes; a magical ninja princess, a bipedal fox, a bounty hunter, a hedgehog, a prince, and bulky blue haired mercenary all lined up close to the podium that was once used for creating many fond memories launching the sandbag. The mercenary, mustering every ounce of strength and willpower to keep himself from succumbing to the throbbing pain of a broken arm. He can only helplessly watch as his comrade, a fearless and noble race car driver who has looked death in the eye many times and walked away, woefully challenge the unrelenting, undiscriminating behemoth that has spelled destruction for the world of Smash for some time now.

The race car driver, also known as The Captain, gasps for air with his hands on his thighs and his eyes on the demon that completely towered him. The creature, some sort of dragon turtle thing that has a spiked shell, released a roar that can pierce the heavens and be heard from worlds away. The Captain crunches up his body and enshrouds himself in a brilliant flame and releases a grunt. In the face of danger, all he knew how to do is drift. The creature stomps its way in the direction of the fearless and determined man. The Captain accepts this challenge and sprints towards the demon in a deadly game of chicken. However, this man was no chicken. No, this man was a Falcon. The Captain leaps into the air and gets ready to deliver a devastating knee to the creature's nose, but it recovered and swatted him away like a fly. The Captain released an ear piercing screech and flew several yards as if he were a sandbag. The mercenary gritted his teeth and released a grunt of sorrow. He did not know which feeling was more sensational: his broken arm or being unable to fight alongside his friend.

"D…damn it," he spouted out. "This… wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this… not like this…"

June 13, 2015, several hours earlier in a castle the reeked of charcoal, a tyrant turtle lizard dragon thing, better known as Bowser, was delivering the morning speech of encouragement to his minions. In a hall, minions were lined up according to species, shell color, and enhancements. There was a camera crew lined up in the air ready to record the morning's proceedings. The goombas, red shells, green shells, thwomps and chomps alike joined together in a symphony cheering their leader's name. Some say the name Bowser could be heard in even the deepest pipes of the Mushroom Kingdom, and by some I mean me and I'm the author so take my word for it. Moving on.

Atop a terrace, a menacing cartoony dragon turtle thing slowly rose from a shadowy door frame, raising his arms as if he were Christ crucified on the cross himself. "Minions," he began. The minions silenced themselves in anticipation for the morning's gospel. "Today marks the start of a new era. Today marks the start of our liberation, of our reign! For far too long, we have suffered tyranny at the hands of plumbers, princesses, Yoshis, baby plumbers, and mushroom people alike. Today, I am here to say no more! No longer will we live in fear of being stomped on or dumped into lava or having our stashes of coins stolen. No longer will the Bowser Kingdom live in the shadows of that pitiful monarchy known as the Mushroom Kingdom. Under my complete and total leadership, together, we can rule as the most POWERFUL POWER THIS PITIFUL LAND HAS EVER SEE-"

At that moment, a wind-up toy crudely resembling the tyrant leapt from the shadows and assaulted him in the back of his head. He turned around, fumed and appalled that someone would have the audacity to challenge his authority, and during his morning speech no less. Rude. But a second later, the machination shook a little and exploded, darkening his face and ruining his hair that he spent forty-five minutes combing earlier that morning. He paused for a second, then turned around to face his underlings, all of whom were either absolutely stunned or trying really hard not to laugh. "Pardon me a sec." he announced before disappearing into the door frame.

Bowser entered a waiting room that housed all of his children, who were running amok. Ludwig was standing on a soapbox and laughing maniacally as he controlled an army of exploding wind-up toys with his wand. His euphoria was cut short as a larger wind-up toy towering him slowly stomped away his army, all orchestrated by Iggy who sat atop the mech. Lemmy's playing with Wendy's lipstick. Wendy's making long distance calls. Roy is writing "Roy Rulez" on the walls in crayon. Morton is giving Larry a noogie and Larry's being useless, the most heinous crime of them all. Amongst all of the childish chaos, Bowser Jr. seemed to be the only one attempting to make peace of the situation. "Guys!" he began in his trade mark shrilly voice. "Stop acting like a bunch of idiots who don't know their mama before papa walks in and punishes us all!"

Then Ludwig interjected, with his hair simmering after being attacked by one of the toy explosives he was commanding. "Aw quit your whining junior," he replied. "You just like telling people what to do."

"No, that would be your shtick," Junior snapped back. "Mr. "I'm top shell because I'm the oldest.""

"Well, duh! It only makes sense that the younger siblings follow the older ones orders but nooooooooo. Father insisted on naming you the heir."

"Probably has something to do with the fact I'm the only one out of all of us who doesn't look adopted. Besides, how can anyone take you seriously with oh so fabuloso hair like that? Are you trying to run a kingdom or a catwalk?"

"What'd you saaaaay?!"

Wendy, the only daughter of the prestigious Bowser lineage, using the term loosely mind you, was lying about on the royal couch making long distance calls to her gal pal from the other side of the world, talking about everything your typical under aged spoiled rich brat would talk about; absolutely nothing of importance. You think I'm joking? Take a look at the conversation she's having:

"At first, I was like "Way," and then she was like "No way!" And then I was like "Yes way!" And she was like "OMG, shut up!" And then I was like "No, you shut up!"

See what I mean? Nothing of absolute importance. Anyway, panning over to Roy, the Royal Jock of the family, whom was writing "Roy Rulez" all over the walls in graffiti using all of the crayons in the crayon box. He chuckled to himself and said "I'm the best. Roy rules. I'm number one, that's me, Roy, heh heh…"

Morton was grinding his fist the top of Larry's head whilst holding him in a headlock. "Now, I'll ask you again. Who's your daddy?"

"I keep telling you, his name is Bowser!" Larry would reply.

"Wrong answer!" Morton snorted out before increasing the intensity of the noogie.

Lemmy was walking towards Iggy. Now, Lemmy had gotten into Wendy's lipstick cabinet and put on a pair of her heels as well. He waddled over to Iggy who was busy entertaining himself causing mayhem upon the toy-targets. "Who that, who that? That do that, do that?"

Iggy sighed. "Yes Lemmy, for the fifty-six time today, I get the reference."

Bowser stood there for a full thirty seconds, a new record by the way, before losing his temper and stomping his foot hard enough on the ground to shake the whole castle. In unison, the Kooplings stopped whatever it was they were doing and looked at the source of the tremor with dilated pupils.

"Uh, Carly?" Wendy said into the phone. "I'll call you back later." Then she hung up the phone.

"Alright you little menaces in training," Bowser furiously began. "What part of stay put and shut up do you not understand?! It's hard enough that I have to memorize a speech that I single handedly prepared without Kamek's help but I will have my reign undermined in front of my minions!" He stopped talking when he noticed his childrens's, sans Junior, poor attempt of holding back their chuckles. "What's so funny?"

"You-you-you…" Lemmy stuttered.

Wendy then interrupted. "You're face looks like one of those cartoon characters who just had a bomb explode in front of their face!"

"Yeah," Roy added, "Wile E. Coyote," followed by him leading the chorus of snorting and giggling.

This time Bowser put his foot down, well, again. "ENOUGH!" he shouted as fire spewed out of his mouth, startling his children. "Don't laugh at your father! Unless he's making a joke! But only if it's genuinely funny. No one likes a boot licker. In any case, I will not tolerate being made a fool of in front of my subordinates!"

"Like you need our help with that…" Larry muttered silently.

"Shut up Larry! Now," pointing to his ash struck face "Which one of you is responsible for this?"

Everybody that isn't Ludwig points at Ludwig, to which he responds with a jaw dropping gasp and a cold sweat.

"What the shell guys?!" Ludwig exclaimed. "What happened to that No Snitching Treaty we all agreed on?"

"Did you really think," Morton begins. "That we'd let some dinky old piece a' paper tell what we can and can't do? We had our finges crossed the whole time!"

"Yeah," Roy added. "We're bad guys. What'd you expect?" Followed by the other sibling nodding in agreement.

"Well, bad guys and a girl." Wendy added, which led to further nodding.

Ludwig was enraged. "You backstabbing, double crossing back stabbers!"

Bowser brings his head down to Ludwig's face so he can get a full view at how much patience he had left. Ludwig starts sweating again, fumbling in his words. "B-b-b-b-b-but it was Iggy who showed me where you kept your stash of exploding Robo-Koopas!" he explained as he pointed at Iggy.

Then Iggy gets nervous and breaks out in a cold sweat. "B-b-b-b-b-but it was Morton who threatened to give me an atomic noogie if I didn't!"

And you know where this is going so I ain't retyping everything. Cut a writer some slack. I got a family to feed and kids to raise and you expect me type every single bit of every event that happened? Y'all buggin. Anywho:

"B-b-b-b-b-but Roy double made a bet with me to see if I could do it!"

"B-b-b-b-b-but Larry dared me into doing it!"

"B-b-b-b-b-but Wendy bribed me into doing that!"

"B-b-b-b-b-but Lemmy said he'd eat my lipstick collection if I didn't!"

Lemmy looks around and waits two seconds before saying anything. Finally, he pointed to Junior and said "Junior voted for Donald Trump."

"Dude." Junior responds. "Not cool."

At this point, Bowser's absolutely seeming with rage. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before he says something he might regret. "Where's Kamek? I thought I told him to baby sit your royal pains in the neck."

"He said he needed to go outside to get better reception so he could talk with his girlfriend." Larry said.

"Ha! That's a good one."

"Uh…"

"Oh my power starts, you're not joking."

At the top of his lungs Bowser shouts "KAMEK!" and almost mid-sentence, the loyal wizard turtle thing appears before him.

"Gah!" Bowser let out, startled. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry your royal scaleyness! To what do I owe this shouting to?"

"I thought I told you to keep an eye on these royal brats while I deliver the morning gospel to the koopa troops! A high morale is the backbone of a good army!"

Kamek was making the fear he had for his boss apparent. "W-w-well you see… I just went outside to get better reception so I could talk t to my girlfriend…"

"No!" Bowser interrupted. "As long as you are part of my kingdom, the only thing you're committed to is whatever the shell I tell you to do! The only thing you're allowed to have a long standing relationship is my will, ya hear?"

"Y-y-yes, you're spikeyness…" Kamek replied, with audible sorrow in his voice.

"Besides, I bet she isn't even all that hot…"

"Take a look for yourself, your fire breathing horrifyingness," Kamek retorts before conjuring a crystal ball out of thin air, displaying an image of a bodacious whatever the heck species Kamek is. Just visualize

"Uh…" Bowser began. "Wow."

"I know right? Can I pick them or what?"

Or what, Bowser thought to himself. "I'm utterly speechless," he said out loud "Don't distract me! Now listen up! For the rest of the morning sermon, all of you twerps and Kamek are grounded! Go the grounding room and don't make a peep!"

After many whines and moans, Bowser escorted his kids and Kamek into grounding room which had a pool table, a pool, a foosball table, a flat screen TV with a Wii U console, a weights, and a computer.

"Now Kamek, do your job for once and make sure these brats stay kaput and behave themselves." Bowser sternly said.

"Yes your terrofiyingness…"

"And stop calling me names! I have a very fragile ego!"

Before he could leave, Bowser felt Bowser Jr. tugging at his knee. "But daaaad," he whined. "I was trying to get everyone else to behave. Why am I being punish…"

Interrupting his son, Bowser leans over into Jr.'s face, practically scaring the color off his skin and shouts "NO BOOT LICKING!" before turning around, stomping his way out of the room and slamming the door, leaving Bowser Jr. staring blankly at the door. All of his siblings and Kamek had already found something top occupy themselves for the morning: Larry was playing against Lemmy in a game of Mario Kart 8 with Ludwig unenthusiastically watching the, Wendy was sitting on the opposite end of the couch texting, Morton was spotting Roy at the bench press, Iggy was browsing the internet, and Kamek had already teleported back outside to call his girlfriend again, this time in front of the window so he could keep an eye on the kooplings. Jr. stomped his way over to the TV, stopping next to Ludwig.

"I can't believe this!" he began, in an attempt to draw attention to himself. "Who does fire brained tortoise think he is punishing us?"

"A responsible father who was rightfully angry?" Larry responds.

"Shut up Larry. I mean, how long is going to treat us like we're annoying little kids?"

"We _are_ annoying little kids, stupid," Wendy responded, not looking away from her cell phone.

"That's not the point! I mean, by now, haven't we shown him that we're capable heirs ready to take over the Kingdom one day?"

In unison, all of Bowser siblings said "No," without stopping whatever it was they were doing.

"What? I can't believe you all! Show some back bone dang it! He's never gonna take us seriously if we keep on taking this kind of abuse?"

Larry inquisitively responds "Whattya tryin to say, that this is some sort of test?"

"Lemmy hates test," Lemmy added. "Lemmy believes tests are an orchestrated tool implored by the man to oppress the collective minds of the youth in order to assimilate them into society and murder their creative thinking so they can become soulless sheep feeding the ever consuming construct known as the economy."

"Exactly!" Jr. enthusiastically replies. "I mean, except for everything you said about society and the economy. It's gotta be a test! He _wants_ us to rebel so we can show him how ready we are to one day rule!"

"Juneyer," Morton replies from the dead life, looking at on brother while forgetting the concern of the other. "Give it up. Y'know, once the big man gets fumed at us, there's nothing we can do to change his mind. Getting back at him is a waste of time."

"Morton," Roy said struggling to life the barbell hooked up with five hundred pound weights on each end. "Spot… me!"

"Sorry," Morton replied and continued to aid him in lifting the ton weight.

"As much as I hate agreeing with people of inferior intellect," Ludwig began.

"'Ey." Morton said.

"Morton's got a point." Ludwig interjects, s Vengeance is a sucker's game and a waste of effort. We should have known better anyway, it's like this doesn't happen like every other day. And you should know better than to take anything Lemmy says seriously."

"Lemmy resembles that remark."

Iggy can be heard sighing from the computer desk. "It's resent, Lemmy. And yes, I'll have to agree as well. Going directly against father's orders is a fool's errand. It'd be best to stay put until this whole fiasco rolls over."

"I can't believe you spineless mongrels!" Jr. responded, taking a few seconds to process the submissive attitude his siblings have just displayed. "And you call yourselves children of Bowser?"

"Hey guy," Iggy says, completely ignoring whatever Jr. was ranting about. "I found something totally more interesting than whatever Jr.'s ranting about." See? Told ya.

All of the Kooplings stop whatever they were doing to go over to the computer desk to see what Iggy was talking about, well except for Roy who had a ton barbell dropped in his mouth. Way to go Morton.

"Somebody sent me this cryptic email titles "The Wrath of Giga Bowser.""

"Yes Iggy," Ludwig responded. "We can all read."

"Yeah? Well read this: There's no sender and it says "do not reply" as part of the subject."

"Spooky." Morton responds.

"Yeah," Larry adds. "What if it's a ghooooost?"

Wendy gets the chills. "Ugh," she moaned. "Don't talk out about ghosts. They give me goosebumps. And not in the good way eiter."

"Fools," Jr. cut in. "Everyone knows ghost don't exists."

"Yeah _Larry._ " Morton added.

"He's got a point you know," Iggy agreed.

"Stupid Larry, trying to scare me," Wendy pitched in.

"Why are we even discussing this?" Ludwig asked.

"Lemmy judges you." Lemmy delivered the final blow.

Without further ado, Iggy proceeded to read the message attached to the message aloud, which was in all caps. "THOUGH THIS MIGHT COME IN HANDY ONE DAY. EVERY MAN HAS SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET. HOPE YOU ENJOY." And… there isn't even a sent date…"

A silence befalls all of the surrounding kooplings, except for Roy who was still gaging on the barbell resting on his mouth. Iggy clicks on the link and is taken to a Youtube video from a decade ago titled Wrath of Giga Bowser. Roy chomps the barbell into pieces and the weighs fall over to the side. He angrily walks over to his siblings and slaps Morton on the back of his head. "Dude! You were supposed to spot me! What happened?!"

"Er, whoops. Must've slipped m'mind."

"Slipped you mind?! I could have died!"

"And yet you still breath," Ludwig added sounding almost disappointed.

"And how come no one said anything? What is wrong with you people?!"

"Silence!" Jr. commanded. "It's starting…"

The sibling started at the screen in silence as a clip with menacing music played showing Bowser from Super Smash Bros. Melee standing on the Kranky Kong stage. He's assaulted by Donkey Kong who the carries him as the screen switches to Hyrule Castle. There awaits Ganondorf, Mew Two, and Dr. Mario.

"The graphics are like totes hideous." Said Wendy.

"Right?" agreed Roy.

"Shh!" repeated Jr.

Dr. Mario, who was dressed in his black outfit, started by firing pills. Mew Two then fired repeated Shadow Balls, followed by Ganondorf who was just thrashing Bowser.

"That makes no sense," cut in Iggy. "Why would Dr. Mario and Donkey Kong assist Ganondorf and Mew Two? Aren't they the bad guys?"

"Yeah," Ludwig responded. "But you know the old saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend…"

"Oh my father, will you shut up?!" snapped Jr.

For the reminder of the video, the children watched in silence. They witnessed every bit of terror that Giga Bowser was capable of. After the clip ended, the Kooplings sat in silence, now fully aware of the chaos and destruction their father was capable of. Any fear they had for Bowser was no multiplied exceedingly. They stood there, motionless for a few moments, hardly blinking. Morton broke the silence.

"Uh, wow."

Followed by Iggy. "That certainly was…intriguing to say the least."

Then Larry. "Yeah, intriguing in a wet your shell kind of way."

Afterwards, Wendy. "Totes, that was just…ugh."

And Lemmy. "Lemmy wishes he didn't see that."

Roy too. "I'm wishing I would have choked on that barbell now."

Ludwig was just as scared as the rest of them but he would be the last one to admit to it. Sincerity was never his strong suit unless he was talking about how great he was. However, Jr. swept in and saved his hide by displaying his insecurity with bravado.

"Don't be a bunch of babies. It's just some stupid video. It's not like any of it is real or anything."

Ludwig, in all his boastfulness, was actually rather sharp and could immediately see through his brother's false courage.

"How would you know?"

"Uh duh, because it's some stupid internet video! The internet is full of lies."

"You can't prove that."

Jr. looked at his brother as if he stepped on his brand new Jordans.

"Are you challenging my authority?"

"I'm calling you out."

"Fine, Ludwig. Believe what you want. See if I care."

"I know you're just as eager to find the truth as I am. But unlike me Jr., you're too scared to seek it out."

Jr.'s left eye twitched.

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"No, I'm implying you're a coward. I bet you're more chicken than Koopa." Ludwig than put his hands on his hips and smirked at his triumph.

"Hey," Iggy began. "C'mon guys. No fighting."

"Yeah," Larry added. "We're already knee deep in trouble with the big guy. Don't make things worse..."

"Shut up Larry," Jr. and Ludwig said in unison.

"Here we go again," Wendy exclaimed.

"I wish I had some popcorn," Morton added.

The two brothers started at each other with intense malice in their eyes. At the same time, there was a hint of admiration since each of the brother were the only ones with the audacity and gall to challenge each other.

"Name your game," Jr. began.

"I bet you're too scared to reenact what made dad transform in the beginning of that video."

The spectating siblings were alarmed.

"What?" Wendy cut in. "Guys, no. This is taking things way too far.

"Now, now dear sister," interjected Roy. "A man's gotta settle his own bets."

"And it'd be kind of funny to see these two get punished," added Morton.

"Hear me out siblings," Jr. announced. "If we do this, we'd be getting back at dad and proving that this video is just some silly farce."

"Heh," giggled Morton. "Hey Roy,"

"Yeah?"

"Farce."

The two brothers giggled.

Jr. extended his hand in front of Ludwig.

"It's a done deal," he declared.

"Excellent." Ludwig said sinisterly.

"But," Larry began. "How are you guys gonna actually go through with it? I mean, it's not like we can actually get a hold of those guys that made it happen in the first placed."

"They could get Kamek to use his magic," said Iggy.

The siblings paused, amazed by how brilliant the plan was.

"KAMEK!" Shouted Jr.

Kamek appeared in a puff of pink smoke immediately after Jr. said his name, startling the Kooplings.

"Yes, your shortness," said Kamek, showing his servitude.

"That's "Your shortness _sir_ " to you," replied Jr. "We have a favor to ask of you…"


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, there was a tournament being held at Arena Ferox and the final contestants were Greninja and Gandondorf. The tournament was being held by Princesses Peach, Rosalina, Zelda, and Prince Marth. Palutena was also spectating since she enjoys a good tournament and dragged both Pits along. Sitting with Marth were Falco, Mew Two, Falco, Ness and Robin, all who were eliminated in the semi-final rounds.

"Man," began Falco to ease the tension of having to spectate a fight instead of being in one. "I can't believe I went out so pitifully. Slip on a freaking banana peel and get hit with a forward smash. That is so unlike me."

"Fool," Mew Two added. "Your embarrassing display pales in comparison to what I have suffered. I fell DK's classic forward grab of the stage. Such tactics should be banned from all tourneys and punishable by mind wipe. Or a hundred hours in a Pokéball without television or snacks."

"Slow down Darth Maul," interjected Robin. "Ganondorf got me with the air forward special suicide surprise."

"Nokay." added Ness smiling at his pun. He was joined later with Falco and Robin's chuckles that could have easily been mistaken for pity laughs.

"That's right, you all suck." said Ike making his way over to the group, placing himself between Falco and Mew Two just to playfully spite them. "Greetings friends." He welcomed his comrades with the type of grin that could easily hide the fact that he's seen the horrors of war first hand.

"Uh-huh," shot back Falco. "This is coming from Mr. 'Forward specials off a stage.'"

Ike's smile disappeared. "Hey, you know damn well I would have launched Mario if he didn't reflect me." Followed by everyone except for Mew Two laughing as Ike folds his arms and turns his view to the stadium visibly flustered but at the same time enjoying the good company. Ganondorf and Greninja have yet to start fighting and were fighting as they were waiting for the announcer to start the match. Ganondorf took the opportunity to taunt his opponent.

"No hard feelings if you lose this one," he said punching his palm. "If anything, it would be an honor to taste defeat at the hands of the mighty Ganon."

"Mind yourself Ganon-san," Greninja retorted, although to everyone else it sounds like him saying his name. "Surely, you know of the old saying, pride before the fall, no?"

"Oh, I intend to make you fall alright."

"If it is a death wish you desire, I would be more than happy to deliver it. Right after I win this tournament."

Ganondorf's cocky smile disappeared and he glared at Greninja with daggers. He was going to say something but was cut off by the echo of Princess Peach over the microphone from the VIP section.

"Gooooooood morning smashers!" she said boisterously, exciting a roar that can be heard from the heavens. "I'm Princess Peach and I will be you broadcaster for today! It been an exciting ride but all good things must come to an end. But fear not! We're going out with a bang in the spectacular finale of this year's Smash Cup Tournament! We've had many combatants ranging from veteran fighters to newcomers alike and fights ranging from tickle parties to all out wars! But it's all come down to this! These two fighters have managed to comb their way through competition and have proven that they are the best of the best! But there can only be one. So without much further ado, I give the mic to Princess Zelda of the Hyrule Kingdom to introduce our fighters! Zelda?"

"Thank you Peach," said Zelda with a tender smile and a tone that almost entirely contrasts Peach's bubbly disposition. "In the blue corner, we have a combatant who was so skilled, they had to nerf the entire system just so he wouldn't be considered over powered. He's mowed his way through the competition with his keen senses and deadly accuracy. Making a splash all the way from Unova, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Greninja!"

The crowd released another roar of excitement that was practically shaking the whole stadium. Any entire section of the bleachers had a group of people wearing Greninja t-shirts, drinking hats, a foam fingers. Among that group were Pikachu and Charizard who were also

"And in the red corner," continued Zelda, notably unenthusiastic. "Is a jerk who needs no introduction. Seriously, start the match already."

"Oh come on," said Peach with a concerned smile. "We've talked about this already. Please just do your job?"

Zelda pouts before finally giving in. "Some say he's the king of disrespect. Some say he's a bringer of pain. I say he's got very smelly feet. Armed with unmatched strength and equally unmatched tactical ability and force of will, he's brutalized his way to the top. He's shown that a lack of speed can be a deadly asset with his infamous baiting skills. The holder of the Triforce of strength, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together, or don't, it doesn't really matter, for Ganondork…whoops, I mean Ganondorf."

Peach held an exhausted smile as the crowed raged on, having a mixture of boos and cheers but those were mostly coming from the section filled with enemies from the Legend of Zelda series, of whom were also decked out in Ganondorf gear.

"Oh Princess," Ganondorf would call from the arena. "Your quips have sincerely hurt me. Perhaps after I win, you can make it up by playing another game of 'bound and gagged in my castle.'"

Zelda made a pouty face before sticking her tongue and making a noise that can only be described as nonsensical childish nonsense. The crowd boomed with laughter, all except for Ganondorf's minions who responded with loyal stoicism. Peach nervously laughed and put on another weak smile before shifting into her regular bombastic personality.

"Ahaha, thank you Zelda. Now! I believe we've kept this lovely crowd waiting long enough! So without further I do, and this time I mean it, let's get this show on the road! Join me as I start the countdown!"

In an immaculate chorus, the entire crowd lent their voices together to cause an eruption that could shake the very foundation of the world.

"THREE!"

The combatants prepared themselves for the oncoming battle that they have earned their right to participate in. The wizard brimmed with a purple aura as he hunched his posture ready to sprint and put on a confident smile as he intensified his focus on the foe ahead of him.

"TWO!"

Greninja squinted his eyes to do the same, emitting small puddles of water from each hand momentarily, metaphorical to loosening ones muscles before a race.

"ONE!"

Both participants had their legs firmly planted on the ground and lifted the heels of their back feet off the ground, left for Greninja, right for Ganondorf. To them, the second before the countdown seemed like an eternity. The only thing standing between them and the Smash Cup was the person on the other side of the arena. And either combatant would be damned before they have that stripped from them.

"GO…"

Practically mid-word, an enormous spiked shelled creature with a terrifying muzzle, sharp teeth drooling with the lust for blood, and a terrifying scowl leaped over one section of the stadium and jumped right on the arena, startling both fighters as well as the audience. As soon as it landed, the arena shook, knocking both fighters off of their feet. A woman can be heard screaming but was then drowned out in the abyss of shrieks. Ganondorf was struck with a level of fear he knew all too well. Almost every muscle in his body stiffened up. All he was capable of doing was looking wide-eyed at the terrifying might he was previously acquainted with. Giga Bowser has returned, and he was hungry for vengeance. He let an immense flame color the sky amber and then set his sights on his first batch of pray.

"Giga Bowser?!" Greninja exclaimed. "What's he doing here?!"

"To bring our total destruction." Ganondorf said stoically.

Giga Bowser leaped into the air and moved into position to do his infamous Ground Pound. Ganondorf was entirely prepared to accept his fate and would have had it not been for Greninja's quickly timed Hydro Pump which he used to propel himself and his former foe into the crowd next to his comrades Charizard and Pikachu.

"Greninja!" Charizard roared. "What's going on?! Why is Giga Bowser here?!"

"Your guess is a s good as mine." replied Greninja

"Incoming!" announced Pikachu.

A brilliant flame headed in the direction of the fighters. Only the combined might of Charizard's Flamethrower and Greninja's Hydro Pump could have stopped the attack mid-flight.

"Come on." directed Greninja. He mounted Charizard as he took the air to direct the attention of the tyrant.

"No, wait!" shouted Pikachu futilely. "He's too strong! You can't beat him!" Either they didn't hear his warning or they chose to ignore it.

"There is no hope," Ganondorf started again. "All hope is lost."

On the other side of the arena, Marth stood paralyzed from the memory he thought he had locked up and buried long ago. Everyone in the stands besides Ganondorfs's troops have fled the arena. No, the prince though. Why is this happening again?

"Oh my God," Falco finally let out.

"Come on men," Palutena fearlessly commanded as she sprouted wings. "Now is our chance to prove your worth in battle! Today, we fight for victory and nothing else!"

On that note, the goddess took flight to join the Pokémon fighting.

"Nobody questions my masculinity and gets away with it!" Dark Pit boasted before flying off to join Palutena.

"We have to help them!" Pit said.

"Right," agreed Ike.

"No!" Marth shouted out, barely being able to grab a hold of his friends' arms. They each shot puzzled looks at Marth who has already broken out in a cold sweat.

"There's… nothing we can do…"

Ike almost looked offended. He swatted his friends hand off him. "What do you mean…?!"

"I mean there's absolutely nothing we can do! Not right now."

"Speak for yourself," murmured Mew Two. "I've already formulated a plan and have telepathically communicated it to my brethren. Bar Pikachu, and understandably so, they, along with Ganondorf's minions will act as our sacrificial lambs while we make haste and high tail."

"What?" Ike snapped. "No! We fight together!"

"Hate to break it to you," Falco began. "But from personal experience, that would be the least lethal course of action to take. I hate to run but we don't have much of a choice here. Anyway, I just sent Fox the memo. He says we're gonna crash at Marth's place till we can formulate a plan. Some other fighters are in route and ready to slow 'em down with a bunch of enemy mooks from various games."

"But the minions…"

"Will be diminished almost instantly and you know that," interrupted Mew Two. Ike wanted to say something but his vocal cords betrayed him so he just gritted his teeth and nodded.

"But…" Pit began. "I can't leave Palutena."

"I will be fine Pit!" the goddess assured. "Go now! The fate of Smash rests on your shoulders!"

"In that case…" said Mew Two before abruptly teleporting next to Ganondorf and Pikachu. Afterwards, the three of them vanished in a brief lavender light. Zelda and Peach appeared in a green light next to the distraught heroes.

"We've directed every citizen to a safe area. A fleet of Hyrule's finest soldiers have been warped and on their way to the stadium with an ETA of twenty minutes. If we're going to leave, we'd best do it now. Robin, Pit, I'll need your assistance since Castle Siege is far out of my range. Unfortunately, it'll take some time before we can locate it and leave and it requires intense focus."

"Okay," replied Ness.

"On it," agreed Robin.

"Pit and I will cover you with our shields if Giga Bowser attacks," informed Falco.

"Can anything we have stand up to that monster?" Pit asked looking in total shock and awe at the battle that was taking place before his eyes.

Together, Zelda Ness and Robin channeled all of their mystic energy so they could conjure enough magic mumbo jumbo to create a worm whole to take them to their destination, closing their eyes to help them concentrate. Meanwhile, Giga Bowser was unable to surmise as how to counter Charizard's and Palutena's air mobility. He was taking blasts of fire, water, and lasers from several directions. Dark Pit was keeping his distance and proving ranged support with his Dark Arrows. He knew not of the previous terrors this creature has caused but he sensed an aura with an overwhelmingly amount of malice from it. Giga Bowser timed Palutena's movements and swatted her into the VIP booth, instantly turning it into rubble.

"Palutena!" Pit exclaimed with a terrified expression.

Dark Pit's face lit up with rage.

"That tears it," he said before flying around Giga Bowser to throw him off. Then he flies upward and delivers an Electroshock Arm to the creature's chin.

"Eat this!" he shouted.

However, his attack was futile, barely moving Giga Bowser and causing no noticeable harm.

"What?" Dark Pit says surprised.

At that moment, Giga Bowser grabs Dark Pit and throws him to the ground, delivering his down throw where he slowly falls on his foes. Dark Pit can be heard screaming as he explodes into stardust. The heroes watch in terror.

"Zelda," Falco began. "If you're gonna make a miracle happen, now's the time."

"We're doing the best we can," replied Zelda, her eyes still closed. "And this requires concentration so please, shut up."

All of a sudden, Ness hears a loud and familiar voice.

Ness! Mew Two mentally projects inside Ness' mind. Trace the location of my psychic link and come to my location!

"Got it," said Ness.

Zelda and Robin opened their eyes surprised by the sudden break in focus.

"Ness," Zelda began. "What are you…?"

"Cooking up a miracle," replied Ness confidently.

Giga Bowser had Charizard held tightly in his right hand, squeezing the life out of him. Charizard let out a scream in pain but toughed it out and released a vicious Flamethrower aimed at Giga Bowser's face. All it managed to do was make him angry. He retaliated with flame breath of his own, totally engulfing the flame lizard. The heat was so intense, it gave a fire Pokémon a burn. The demon tossed Charizard into a section of the stand, emerging a dust cloud and many rocks. Then, Giga Bowser turned his attention to the heroes attempting to flee and slowly turned around, alarming them. He cocked his head back slowly, raising the guard of Ike and Marth who were stuck in their counter positions. Peach put her left hand just under her bottom lip.

"Oh my," she faintly said.

All Robin could do was look wide eyed at the demon as he prepared to attack. Pit readied an enormous shield and gritted his teeth, fearing that his defenses alone wouldn't be enough to block the incoming attack.

"Ness," Falco frantically said without looking at the boy. "Get us out of here!"

"PK…" Ness started up.

Giga Bowser's head snapped forward quickly and a large flame reminiscent of a dragon or a snake poured out of his mouth, traveling at blinding speeds towards the frantic heroes. Falco kicked his reflector shield just before the flame reached midway towards its target.

"Ness!" Zelda shouted frantically.

"Teleport!" Ness finally shouted.

At that moment, a purple vortex appeared behind the heroes sucking them all in along with a few meters of the flame that was shot at them. The killer koopa seemed further and further away until he was completely out of sight. Giga Bowser cocked his whole body backwards and roared in a rage. Then he felt a sudden wetness on his eyes. He turned around only to be struck by Greninja yet again with a sneak attack.

The portal launched the heroes inside the main hallway of Castle Siege where they all piled up on. Met Two floated over to them and knelt down.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Ness let out a sigh of relief and then pulls his left arm out to give a thumbs up and a grin "No," he began. "We're okay."

"Speak for yourself," Falco said examining his reflector. "He fried my reflector. These things ain't cheap y'know."

Back at the arena while Greninja was making a fool of Giga Bowser evading his attacks, Palutena arose from the rubble, bruised and torn up, and saw that her friends had safely escaped.

"God speed comrades," she faintly said underneath her breath. "God speed. Speaking of…"

Palutena flew about seven meters into the air and raised her right arm. The sky filled with a bright white light, even momentarily stunning Giga Bowser. When the light dispersed and creature gained his eyesight back, he was created with a sky filled with as many Centurions, Knights, and Juggernauts as there are stars. Palutena fearlessly looked down on to the foe that stood below her, which for the first time since the fight started was completely still as if it needed time to understand the grasp of the situation.

"Army," Palutena shouted before letting her right arm fall in a chopping motion. "Attack!"

On that cue, every single soldier in the sky flew towards the arena ready to look death in the face, each of them letting out a tremendous battle cry that when combined could terrify gods alike. Palutena gave herself a speed enhancement and charged forward. Greninja, awe struck, turns his sight to his injured friend who was dusting himself off, ignoring any pain he had been previously dealt. Charizard returned a look to his comrade and nodded, with Greninja doing the same. With a blade of water in each hand and hungry flames spewing out of his mouth, the two Pokémon leaped to attack the demon's blind side, knowing that even if though they might not be able to return to their home and laugh and play like they always have, they were fighting for something far greater than anything that can be described by words. Most importantly, they were fighting together. A final roar is heard as the once teal sky is lit up with an amber dragon, piercing the clouds as if the planet and decided it that the only way to deal with this level of stress was to roll up, sit back, and enjoy a nice long blunt. But the world knew that nothing could numb the pain it had endured. And the world knew that all pain would eventually subside. What makes a true warrior is one who endures and the world has endured for far too long.


	3. Chapter 3

Inside Castle Siege, a small group of fighters have congregated in the battle hall, each taking a seat on the chairs provided. Numerous chatter can be heard amongst them. Marth looks nervously at his comrades and searches the pits of his mind to find the right words.

"Umm…" he stammered unconfidently. "Excuse me."

"I wonder if Mario is okay…"

"Hiii..."

"Uh, hello?" he tried again to no avail.

"Will the Mondado's power be enough?"

"Excuse me," Marth tried again a bit more sternly.

"..And in one of my latest adventures, I out ran a black hole."

"I'd call that impressive if I didn't find it so hard to believe. I'll have to race you one day to see who's really the fastest."

"I'm recalibrating my arm canon. You'd best do the same, blue boy."

"My name is…"

The various conversations are put on halt by the sound of Ike's Eruption shaking the room and vanquishing all other sound. A blue flame briefly lit up the section of the room where everyone congregated. He raised his head in a way that his mouth was hidden behind the sheath of his sword, diverting all attention to his intolerant eyes, all the more highlighting his menacing scowl.

"Shut up," he calmly said looking at no one in particular.

"Thank you Ike," Marth said, gaining his confidence and turning his attention back to the remaining warriors. "I'd like to make it apparent that we have a crisis on our hands but I don't think it could be more obvious. So far, we've deployed 1800 Hyrulian soldiers, 3000 of Ganondorf's minions, and an incalculable amount of Palutena's troops. There is still no word on the whereabouts of Bowser's army. Giga Bowser has managed to defeat almost every single one of them within the last 2 hours. To make matters worse, a number of our personal friends have also been reported as casualties or MIA. Among them are Dark Pit, Palutena, Greninja, Lucario, Charizard Wii Fit Trainer, R.O.B, Lucina, Yoshi, Rosalina and Luma, Meta-Knight, King DeDeDe, Wario, Diddy Kong, and…"

Marth hesitated and looked away for moment. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Villager."

Ike put his right hand on Marth's left shoulder. The melancholy mood had been set and aura of sorrow has filled the air. Donkey Kong punched the ground out of frustration before turning away and covering his face to hide a flood of tears. He gritted his teeth as Peach walked over with a sympathetic look to comfort the distraught giant. Luigi, who wasn't wearing his cap and isolated himself away from the group squeezed a familiar red cap without breaking his stoicism. Since the moment he sat down, all he's done was forward and maintain silence. After a few seconds, Marth found the courage to speak again.

"Giga Bowser is becoming a growing problem. Literally. With every foe he defeats, he has grown slightly. But we've formulated a plan. A troop of the remains of Waddle Des being led by Bandana Joe are luring Giga Bowser to Gaur Plain where Metal Face has agreed to come out in and aid us in the battle. However, it pains me to say that he is woefully outmatched. All he can do is buy us time…"

"Question," Sonic called out while raising his hand. "So, why the heck are we sitting on our hides while our friends are sent off to die?"

"Because Sonic," Ike said in a tone a parent uses to a child while chastising them for a misdeed. "If we go out there all Leroy Jenkins, then we're going to die too. And then who'll be able to protect Smash from total destruction."

"You're joking right? Because last time I've checked, this entire room is filled with people who've selflessly put their lives on the line to protect their land, planet, friends, you name it. This isn't anything new Ike. I feel you, we've lost a bunch of our friends and that sucks big time but you know what we've accomplished in the two hours we've spent mingling here? Jack squat. And the more time we spend doing jack squat, the more of our friends die. You, me, and everyone else in this room knows that any sort of resistance we'll send will be just as easily mowed down as they were dispatched, which is only making Giga Bowser stronger. You hear that? We're losing and he's winning. And he's gonna keep on winning unless the big dogs step in and do something about it. Plus, we've got everything we need. We've got a butt load of assists trophies, we've got massive Pokéballs, and we're armed to the teeth with items and rations. So again, I ask: Why are we wasting time with this tea party?"

Ike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, a vein had appeared next to his left eye. Before he could say anything, Marth gave him a hand signal to silence him. He continued.

"Sonic, an army is near useless under poor direction. Right now, this is a battle of wits. Now without further ado, I'd like to explain the plan, so no more interruptions."

Marth turns his body to the right where Ness, Zelda and Mew Two were intensely focusing.

"Ness is using his psychic abilities to search for any missing fighters. Mew Two is serving as a psychic bridge between scouting troops who have intelligence on the enemy and the whereabouts of missing fighters. If any of them die, he will know. Right now, our plan is to find Dr. Mario so we can replicate the procedure used the last time Giga Bowser went on a rampage. Dr. Mario should be able to create a capsule that holds several Super Mushrooms. Once used, an attack of a similar magnitude of a charged forward Smash should be able to defeat Giga Bowser. With the number of fighters we have left, that would be overkill. Our best bet is to lure him to a secluded area and ambush him."

Sonic grunts impatiently and folds his arms. "If you say so."

At that moment, Fox walks in dragging Mario by the shoulder. "Special delivery," Fox says in a futile attempt to illuminate the melancholy mood poisoning the air.

Luigi jumps from his chair and runs to his brother, giving him a tight squeeze. Peach rubs her eye at the sight.

"Well look what the fox dragged in," Captain Falcon remarked.

"Bad news though," Fox. "Dr. Mario's been reported MIA."

Shulk stares intensely at Mario, looking very confused.

"Okay," he began. "At the expense of sounding like an idiot, how exactly is that possible?"

Zelda interjects, placing her hands about an inch apart. "That's easy. In this dimension, this amalgam of worlds that we collectively call Smash, nothing really makes sense. It's as if all of our worlds cohabit yet do not. Certain rules are broken allowing us to cohabit with our alter egos, hence why Dr. Mario can be slaughtered while Mario would face no consequences and vice versa, which has happened during the last time Giga Bowser attacked."

A aqua blue light appears from her hands and grows larger, parting them. In seconds, it becomes too large for Zelda's hands and eventually takes the shape of a male about her size. The light grows dim before eventually fading away. Shiek appears before everyone's eyes, to Shulk's amazement.

"However, these alter egos are basically another conscious altogether. They can live their own lives, have their own experiences separate from their origin. And once these alter egos separate from their origin, they take along with them whatever abilities and traits that are exclusively associated with them, hence why you won't see me pulling any needles out of my skirt any time soon. It's the reason why recently, Samus has been able to fight against herself without her armor and why you see Shiek here."

Shiek waves at Shulk. For eight seconds, Shulk looks dumbfounded. "I guess that would explain that one time I fought myself in my underwear…"

"No," Shiek said very femininely, further exasperating Shulk, much to Sonic, Falco, Captain Falcon and Ness's amusement. "That's something else entirely different but that's not important right now. I'll go scout for more survivors, anybody with intel or who could aid us in battle. Keep a telepathic link. Fox, I'll bunk with you."

"Right-o," Fox exclaimed.

"God speed, me." Zelda said clasping Shiek's hand."

"Good speed, m'me." Shiek returned before dashing off with Fox to the Arwing.

"Which brings me to my next point," Sonic said impatiently tapping his foot at incalculable speeds. "Why don't you just send me out there? I could literally circle this jigsaw puzzle of a world in search M. ."

"Because Sonic," Ike said with a very annoyed expression. "You're needed here."

"While your speed would prove valuable in searching for comrades," Marth interrupted before Ike said something that would further delay the conversation. "But the fact is that you'd be much more suitable for combat. Your run and gun fighting style complimentary to your high speed gives you one of the highest chances of survival in a direct confrontation."

"Completely ignoring that you're feather weight." Samus said petting Sonic. Even though he feigned being irritated doing his trade mark arm fold and half scowl, he secretly enjoyed it.

"Which is why," Pit continued. "We're going to ambush him in squads aided by the remnants of Palutena's soldiers combined with the Hyrule forces that are being led by the Links. Then, we'll lure him to the stadium and confront him there."

"But since docta Mario's outta the picture," Falco added. "That leaves us with fight till we drop."

"My protégé has a point," Captain Falcon added. "An ambush got us nowhere last time. Giga Bowser's got super armor making our moves useless in our current states and top of that is incredibly strong. Frankly, and I'm not saying this to decrease the morale but the only thing our numbers could do is delay the inevitable."

"I ain't your protégé," Falco said with a hostile look. Captain Falcon responded with a smirk.

"The key to our victory last time," Peach cut in. "Was the abundance of Super Mushrooms Dr. Mario had in a capsule. With that, Roy and Mr. Game and Watch had enough power to deliver a devastating combined forward smash sending Giga Bowser flying."

"Too bad," Mega Man said. "If only we could just _make_ the items appear."

There was a brief pause and all of the fighters save for Mew Two and Ness looked at Mega Man, who was startled by the sudden attention.

"You M2," Sonic exclaims. "You think you guys could cook us up a batch of super shrooms? And not the trippy kinds either."

Mew Two opens his left eye. "Do I look like Jesus to you? Don't bother me with such obtuse requests."

Sonic turns back to the rest of the group, gritting his teeth. "Geez, what is it with ultimate life forms and their need to talk down to people? Makes me think they're compensating for something…"

"Sonic, please," Marth said while walking over to the group of psychics. "Mew Two, we haven't explored that possibility."

Mew Two sucks his teeth and gives Marth his full attention. "You can't expect us to just pull out objects out of thin air."

"I do it all the time…" Sonic whispers.

" _Silence!_ " Mew Two snaps. "We cannot just summon items out of the blue. We're not mag…"

Mew Two turns to face Zelda's stone cold stoicism and Ness' perpetual smile.

"Well maybe if we combine our powers, something _could_ happen. But doing so would require that we search deep within this already complicated framework and manually activate the coding that makes items appear. Doing so would take tremendous psychic power and Zelda isn't primarily a psychic. I'm not promising anything."

"Only promise that you'll try," Marth retorts.

Mew Two nods. He closes his eyes, Ness and Zelda taking cue.

"Together now," Mew Two commands.

After three seconds, Zelda, Mew Two, and become enshrouded in a blue light. Marth returns to the remaining fighters.

"Okay, while they're doing that, we're going to have to put this plan into action. Who knows how long…"

A centurion from Palutena flies in, landing in front of Pit and bowing.

"Rise soldier," Pit commanded.

The centurion does as he is told and raises his right arm to salute. "Captain, we've received word that Giga Bowser has plowed through 56% of Zelda's forces and has defeated Metal Face. However! A squad of our fastest troops along with the Links are leading him away to the Garden of Hope. There is still no report on the whereabouts of King DeDeDe or MetaKnight but we have found Bandanna Dee leading a squad of Waddle Dees through a section of the Smash run. We have a squad patrolling all of the Kirby stages for more minions to come to our aid."

"Thank you centurion. You're dismissed."

"Sir!" Then the centurion flies away.

"You heard him Marth," Ike interjects. "We're running out of time."

"Indeed. Looks like we're going to have to get into our positions sooner than expected. Sonic, looks like you're getting what you wanted."

Sonic hops out pf his seat and puts on his trademark grin. "Sweet."

Marth returns the grin for he anticipated this might be the last opportunity he may have. "Mew Two is simultaneously connecting us through a psychic link so expel any distracting thoughts, which I understand may be hard but remember that the fate of our future is in our hands. Speak now if you don't understand your assignments."

Silence fills the halls.

"Good." Marth draws his sword. "Remember comrades, we fight not just for the fate of our worlds. We fight not just for the sake of vanquishing evil." Ike nonchalantly kicks the mechanism controlling moat and it slowly lowers. Marth raises his sword and the light from outside illuminates him and reflects off his sword.

"We fight for justice! For glory! For the future generations who have yet to receive to opportunity to participate in Smash. And most importantly, we fight for our friends!"

Ike smirks although he was secretly disappointed since he really wanted to say that last line. An enormous cheer erupts the castle. Marth turns around to face the descending moat separating them from uncertain fate.

"Smashers," Marth said leading the march to war. "Let's fan out."

Sonic rises his left hand and pulls on his glove to tighten it. "Finally. All of this pent up energy is getting put into good use!"

"Phrasing," Falco says.

"Shut up!"

Peach, Captain Falcon, and Ike laugh. Before returning to the cold and calculating disposition needed to fight in a war.


	4. Chapter 4

p style="line-height: .2in;"span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Ness slowly opens his eyes to the sight of an endless array of stars. Above him was a meteor shower of bright lights whisking by. /span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Ness," Mewtwo says without a care for the boy's curiosity. "Focus. We are not here without objection./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Ness scans Mewtwo and Zelda who was floating adjacent to him. It took him a second to notice that their entire bodies took on a teal hue. Ness looked at his own hands to discover the same had happened to him. Then taken aback he looks below him to see an abyss of blackness and tiny lights that seemed to go on forever. /span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"What," Ness flatly says. However, Mewtwo and Zelda knew him enough to sense that he was freaking the hell out. Zelda giggles at the child's naivety./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Fear not boy," Mewtwo commands. "We are in no danger. In fact, we are not even actually here."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Our bodies are safely back at Castle Siege," Zelda reassured him, patting him on the head. Ness looks to the side to hide the fact that he was blushing. Mewtwo rolls his eyes, impatient with the casual composure his allies have taken./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"These are astral projections of our consciousness. It may appear that we are floating in space but we are far from it. This child is the origin of all things related to Smash. This is the central Smash Frame Ware. Those bright lights may seem like stars but if you look closely, you can see that they are items."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Ness squints as hard as he can at the nearest bright light speeding past him. It's a baseball bat./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Cool," Ness inquires./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Indeed," Mewtwo agrees. "They travel at warp speed to reach a stage where battle is taking place. However, it is for the most part random. A powerful enough entity can control which items appear. Only one Smash Ball can appear on a stage at a time. However, the three of us alone are too weak to willfully summon a Smash Ball."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"As if Fate itself were eavesdropping on the conversation a giant Smash Ball ascends behind the trio. They all turn to gaze upon it, Ness struck with awe./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"We have work to do. Zelda, Ness, focus on ranged and close quarters weapons. They shall come before you. Then, establish a link with someone participating in battle."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Speaking of…" Zelda begins before rising both arms to her side in as Christ fashion, drawing an array of laser swords, laser guns, fans, and baseball bats. "Link, can you hear me?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"***/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"As a child, have you ever observed ants? Were you ever captivated by the world these tiny creatures immerse themselves in? Day in and day out, these brethren band together working for a common purpose. They build together, they grow together. They have come to an agreement that there is a goal that cannot be done by the hand of any one ant. An iron bond formed by the will of the many. Now, even at a young age, humans have an immense capacity for cruelty. It may be instinctual but when we are given immense power, we seem invincible to the weak. Imagine a little boy pointing a magnifying glass on an ant hill. It forces some of the ants crawling in away from their home. The boy kicks over the ant hill. In the face of overwhelming power, there is no shame in giving in to fear to fight for another day. But for every generation, there come the few who stand their ground firmly, staring down their foes straight in the eye. Knowing they may die, they choose to fight anyway because even if they are fighting for a purpose far greater than themselves. They fight for their home, for their kin, for the future they believe in, for all that is glorious and just. And even though this all powerful entity may wipe out the vast majority, those brave souls have solace that they are fighting alongside equally brave comrades. For even if this unstoppable child may wipe out a majority of them, their infinite fighting spirit will not allow them to quit. This juggernaut is not dealing with any ordinary ant. No, he has stepped on a fire ant hill./span/span/spanbr /br /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"From a bird's eye view or even the eye of God, that's exactly what it seemed like. Thousands of ants seemingly coming out of nowhere, crawling up the leg of their attacker. Swarms of Hyrule's best foot soldiers, knights, bowmen, the works, direct their plight to the seemingly other worldly entity. Like an apathetic child who is either too naïve or full of himself to care for the lives of the tiny creatures below his feet, Giga Bowser too swept up the lives of these comparatively insignificant species. Giga Bowser effortlessly stomps his foot into the dirt, kicking up an immense dust hill and leaving a foot print with discarded spears and broken bows and arrows. He opens his jaw to release a tsunami of flames that swallow a fleet of soldiers mounted on horses. In this sea of madness, it is all but too easy to give way to fear. For many soldiers, this is exactly the case. Trembling, a few soldiers opted to make a tactical retreat, hiding inside a foot print left by Giga Bowser. However, even in this pit of darkness, their shines a light so bright, the faint of heart may look away. Two horses leap over the pot, carrying on their steads two distinguished warriors who have time and time again stood to defend their kingdom for nothing in return, solely because they are the only two with the galls to do so. These two warriors, clad in their legendary green tunics carry with them the only thing that keeps humanity from giving heed to pessimism and despair: Hope./span/span/span/p  
p style="line-height: .2in;"span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Link and his cartoon counterpart simultaneously flip into the air, letting out their distinguishable battle cries. Unsheathing their swords, Link aims for the center of Giga Bowser's chest while Toon Link aims for his belly. In unison, they emit their legendary battle cries and strike, causing minimal damage at best. However, it seems to have grabbed the attention of the behemoth who now had his sights set on the two fearless swordsmen clad in green. Giga Bowser lets out an immense roar, stunning the two momentarily. Whatever bravery they have shown was now betrayed by their running away in the opposite direction. And now, here's the play by play by two Hylian warriors./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"I can't believe it," said a knight with his helmet knocked off, gripping his shoulder and spitting out blood not out of necessity but out of disgust. "Two of our finest men scared tightless. Heh, I guess that means us small fries don't have a chance in hell. Ain't that right, Willard?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"A spearman is kneeling next to him, taking heed at the scene before him. "Actually Duke," Willard responds. "It would seem the opposite is in fact taking place."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Duke looks at his ally with a raised eye brow before spitting over his healthy shoulder. "Uh, I don't know what you're looking at but it would seem that our powerhouses are tucking tail and saving their own hides."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"My dear friend, you must learn not to take things at face value. Lo and behold, notice how the creature is not attacking our fellow fighters at the moment, nay?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Duke looks at his friend before squinting at the Links who are taking turns throwing arrows, boomerangs, bombs, and themselves whilst displaying expertly time acrobatics to avoid flame breath and the impact of giant claw swipes./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"I don't know if you were paying attention during the briefing or not," Willard continues. "But the Links, being the most imminent threat, or rather annoyance by the looks of it, to Giga Bowser, the creature, perhaps in a bout to protect its ego, has now focused his attention on them. Thus, saving us several warriors and sparing us the obligation to deliver the bad news to their families."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Saving us more men for our inventory for a later strike." Duke chuckles. "I've ne'er been one for listenin' to long speeches I'll tell you that. But I can't decide if it's ingenious or just plain suicide. As good as they are, them fairies don't stand a ghosts of a chance in a direct confrontation againist that."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Quite. Luck plays a part in diverting him away towards the next destination where more soldiers await for an ambush."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Yeah…welp." Duke stands up tall, his six foot three inched figure blocking the rays of the sun from Willard. He rotates his shoulder as if doing so yields fast acting healing properties. "C'mon. May as well be useful while we're here."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Willard frowns. "Our work here is done. Come, let us return to base for we live to fight another day."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Duke puts on the biggest, dopiest, grin he can muster, his innocence practically radiating out of every pore. "You kidding? It'll be a cold day and hell before they can keep Old Duke from getting some action! So you with me or ain't cha?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Willard looks at his giant friend for whom he has known for so long. He thinks that he shouldn't be surprised. Willard looks down, smiles to himself and sighs, before standing up. "I guess it can't be helped."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"So is that a yes?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Willard, carrying his spear with both hands brings it up to his chest. "Indeed it is my brother."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"That's the spirit!"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"At that moment, the two fire forged friends charged forward towards the behemoth, with no regrets. For if they were to die at this very moment, neither of them would be more glad that they did fighting alongside their best friend./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"***/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"The sky is bathed in a comfortable hue of blue, as if completely ignoring the madness before it. The Blue Falcon speeds at an three-hundred miles per hour with Sonic resting on top of it./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"This," the impatient blue hedgehog begins slouching near the front window but carful enough not to obscure Captain Falcon's view. "Is. The. Slowest. Race car. Ever."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Hold your horses," Captain Falcon replies. "There's no need for us to rush. We're not needed for another forty minutes and at this speed, we'll arrive at the stadium in twenty."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"And if I just ran there, I'd be there in twenty seconds but noooooo, Marths says we have to 'Stick with your partner at all times'. Come on Falcon, we're going at a snail's pace!"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Captain Falcon chuckles and grins. "Sonic, three-hundred miles per hour is not a snail's pace."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic returns the gesture. "Says you."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"There is silence amount them for a few moments. Sonic, who takes the opportunity to doze off, personally doesn't mind but Captain Falcon feels obliged to keep a conversation. Awkward silence is indeed a deadly adversary./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"So… did you here there's a black guy starring in the new Star Wars movie?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic opens his left eye and looks directly at Captain Falcon./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"How is that of any significance?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Well, er… people were making a huge uproar about it."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Seriously?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color:  
#2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Yep."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic snickers. "Only you humans would be petty enough to make a big deal over skin color. No offense."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Er…that's racist?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"I said 'no offence.'"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"But you're right. I mean, some folks'll just never learn. It's not about the color of your skin, it's all about the fire in your heart."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic stretches his limbs, closing both eyes and yawns, turning away from Captain Falcon. "Right on Cap'n."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Captain Falcon frowns. Wow, that was totally rude, he thinks. He extends his right hand to a button half an inch away from the wheel./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Falco."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"What Falcon?" Falco indifferently replies, his voice distorted by radio noise./span/span/spanbr /br /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Uh, that's Captain Falcon…"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Pffft… Yeah right, like I'm callin' you that."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"How's your end of the bargain holding up?" /span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Falco does not hesitate to hide his confusion. "How's my…? Ain't there more important things for you ta' be worrying about?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Nooooot really. Sonic fell asleep on me and we've got jack squat to do until we have to face Giga Bowser."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Not my problem. Look, I'm kinda busy at the moment so can you call back like, never?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Oh don't be like that. Hey, holler up Fox. See what he's doing."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"You holla him up."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Oh come on, we can make it a threesome."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"There is a moment of silence. Sonic chuckles./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Did I miss something funny?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"It's three-way, Falcon," Falco responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"What's the difference?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Oh there's a difference, trust me on this."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"So you gonna patch me over to Fox or…?/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Alright, alright, keep yer helmet on."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"The sound of Falco's communicator beeping is heard./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Yo Fox."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sup playa 2," Fox responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Falcon wants a threesome," Sonic quickly responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"There is another pause. A dead phone line is heard./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Dammit Sonic," Falco responds, irritated as he dials Fox again, Sonic laughing in the background./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"That wasn't very nice," Captain Falcon says sarcastically./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"I'm pretty sure there's a song mentioning how much I chuckle," Sonic replies./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Look," Fox responds "This is a really bad time for your shenanigans so if you're done bullshitting,"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Save it for someone who cares," Falco interrupts almost instinctively. "How's the search going?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Lousy. The Mushroom Kingdom's practically deserted save for a few koopa troops and Toadstools. It's a depressing sight to say the least. But these searches tend to go faster when I'm not being distracted by bullshit."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Tell it to Falcon. He's bored."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Bored? Shouldn't he be worried about more important things?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"S'what I said."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"We've got like a half hour till Giga Bowser shows up," Captain Falcon defends./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Boo hoo," Fox responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Also what I said," Falco adds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"So about that threesome…" Sonic throws in./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Fox gets fumed, his voice distorted by the static. "I'm getting real sick of your shit Sonic."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic sits up and looks at the speaker Fox's voice is coming out from. "Well I'm getting real sick of your face."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"How? You can't even see me."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Oh, so you think you're John Cena now?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"I'll John Cena you off a high platform."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Please, you couldn't Cena way out from the mid-tier."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Captain Falcon covers his mouth with his right hand and joins Falco for a silmuntaneous "Ohhhhhhhhhh."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Shots fired," Falco adds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Guys," Captain Falcon interrupts, giggling. "Come on. Settle this in Smash."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"How about it blue?" Fox spits./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"You name the time and the place pal," Sonic snidely responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Final Destination. No items. Me only."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"It's a date."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Get good." Then a beep is heard./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"What madness have I caused?" says Captain Falcon without actually meaning it./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"You're not really gonna be there, are you?" Falco asks./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Well, he did say 'Me only.'"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"True."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Yeah, I was there," Captain Falcon adds. "So Falco, did you know a black guy is starring in the new Star Wars film?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Did you know Kylo Ren…"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Captain Falcon hits the button again, cutting off communication./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Dick," he says under his breath./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"That wasn't very nice," Sonic responds./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"He knows I hate spoilers. I mean, I get that he doesn't like me and all but that's no excuse to ruin my life."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Bummer."/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"For a breath moment, the two were back to where they were with nothing but the sound of the Blue Falcon speeding across the sky./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"So…" Captain Falcon finally says. "Wanna race?"/span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Sonic does a Chinese get up from his position and jumps off the Blue Falcon, shouting "First one to blink loses!" The moment his feet make contact with the sea below him, he takes off, creating a shock wave and tearing though the ocean like a samurai blade swiftly slicing through butter. Captain Falcon grins before push a lever./span/span/spanbr /span style="color: #2c3635;"span style="background: #fffffa;""/span/spanspan style="color: #2c3635;"span style="font-size: 9pt;"span style="background: #fffffa;"Cheater," he says under his breath before his vehicle starts rapidly rotating, engulfing itself in a blue hue as he speeds away, seemingly becoming one with the ocean./span/span/span/p 


	5. Chapter 5

Fox McCloud snickers as he hangs up his communicator device and puts it in his pocket, annoyed by the trivialities his friends seem to welcome in such crucial times. Maybe I'm a bit on edge, he thinks. A laugh or two wouldn't hurt anybody, especially under these circumstances. I mean, come on, this is just pitiful.  
"Shiek," Fox calls out, looking up to his comrade. "How're things on your side?"  
What was formerly known as the Mushroom Kingdom was reduced to rubble and ruins. Bits of the Toadstool castle lay scattered in areas it had no business being. Broken warp pipes, stone wall burned to ash. Such as sight is comparable to a child who has smashed, chewed, and tossed his toys across his room exercising his absolute dominion without a care in the world. Shiek hunches down to pick up a Princess Peach doll. She caresses it momentarily, lamenting the tragedy that has occurred before being called back into reality by her ally.  
"No dice," she says coldly without facing him. Fox observes the inner desolate Sheik was radiating and searches his heart for words of comfort. I guess I'm not the only one who could use a laugh, he thinks.  
"There…" he takes his time finding the right thing to say. "There was nothing we could have done… I mean, just the two of us. It's not your fault. Don't carry this burden alone."  
For a moment, Shiek stands there looking at the doll as if she did not hear Fox's words.  
"You think I don't know that?" she finally says with a pinch of scorn in her tone. "Idiot, I know there was nothing I could have done then. No one can stand up against that… that thing, that monster. I'm… I'm too weak."  
Shiek squeezes the doll. Ah nuts, Fox thinks. I made it worse.  
"No, no, that's not what I'm trying to say," Fox retorts gesticulating with his hands to indicate he made a mistake.  
"But you did," Shiek coldly responds. "No one has the power to stand up to that thing…"  
"You can't possibly mean that." Fox sounds almost offended. "If that's the case then why even bother with this man hunt? Why bother sending your conscious into the central Smash framework to give us items? Why are you even here in the first place if you don't believe in us?!" he says as he vigorously swipes his right on in front of him.  
Shiek finally focuses her gaze on him. She stares at him in amazement and then she finally smiles. Through her mask, it is near impossible to tell. But her eyes had a distinguished glow of content.  
"Let me finish before you speak," she chuckles out. "It's what I would have said if things were like they were in Melee. We only won by the skin on our necks and through everyone's contributions. Especially…"  
"…Yeah."  
Silence forces it's will for a few seconds.  
"But it doesn't matter," Shiek responds after a long silence. "Even if he's not around anymore, we can't let that be our crutch. If there's a will, there's a way."  
Shiek raises the doll and squeezes it, not out of sorrow but through sheer zeal. Her amber eyes that once radiated happiness now took on a whole view. That is that there wasn't happiness but rather it is amplified by passion and immense faith. Her expression shined so bright, it forced the normally stoic Fox to crack a smirk.  
"But I'm still a bit uneasy," Shiek goes on as she drops her gaze along with her expression. The light in her eyes was effortlessly snuffed out. "I feel bad for Peach. Protecting the people of your kingdom is part of a princesses' duties and here…she failed miserably. I understand she was not present at the moment of the attack but to have even one of her people smote…Can you imagine what that must feel like?"  
Fox stoically observes Shiek. "While I may not be a princess," Fox says as he walks towards her. "It being my job to protect people of all races across the galaxy, I can kind of relate. Heck, I can probably relate better that you can since that's pretty much my job description. No offense."  
"None taken."  
"But yeah, not being able to save even one person. It sucks. Big time. Especially when that one person has a family. Especially when that one person is a child. Nobody's perfect. Except there's so much pressure in my line of work to be perfect. Because if you're not perfect, if you're even a quarter of a second too late, it could mean the end of a solar system. Or some kid not being able to go to sleep for the night. I don't know which is worse. Sure, I've lost a few weeks of sleep. But at the end of the day, I can't go on lamenting that I'm not perfect forever. Not when there's people that I can still save."  
Almost eight seconds go by as Shiek silently studies Fox.  
"Fox…" she finally says after what seems like months. "Goddamn, that was some heavy ass shit. I mean yeah, I said some pretty cloudy things too, but what the hell man."  
Fox giggles and rubs the back of his head with his right hand. "I guess I over shared."  
"You guess?"  
Then, the two join together for a much needed laugh. Fox grabs his sides and arches his head to the sky while Shiek grips her stomach with her left hand, tearing up. After half a minute, the laughter slowly dies out and culminates in the two smiling at each other. Shiek puts out her right fist, the one holding the doll.  
"Thank you Fox McCloud," Shiek says. "I needed that."  
Fox returns the gesture and their fists collide. With that, Sheik does a bow face and dashes forward.  
"Come, stop distracting me," she playful adds. "I'm in the middle of an important mission."  
Fox takes a moment to smiles before following her lead.  
"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, princess," he says.

"Dick," Falco says after turning his communicator off and stuffing it in his pocket.  
"Falco," Marth calls out with the annoyance of a very tired parent. "Stop antagonizing our team mates."  
"Yeah, tell that to them," Falco snidely remarks.  
"Falco, you know how much Captain Falcon hates spoilers. It's important to respect your allies."  
"Pfft, like I care." Falco folds his arms and turns his head to his right to observe the empty Smash Stadium. Over the years, he had grown accustomed to hearing the bleachers erupt with cheers that could be heard from continents away. He never told anyone but he secretly liked the cheering, the admiration of a crowd the population of a small country. He has only experienced this total silence one other time. Falco recalls how easily he was swept away all those years ago. An image of Giga Bowser's massive claws effortlessly hacking him along with Samus and Fox flashes in his mind for a quarter of a second. His pupils dilate as he straightens his posture, leaving his body entirely stiff and cold for a moment that seems like an eternity. Falco, not being one who shows emotion other than annoyed or pride turns his head slightly to see if any of his friends noticed his brief moment of weakness.  
With only his left eye visible to anyone who would have been looking in his direction, he shifts his pupil to quickly scan the horizon. Samus and Megaman are discussion the laws of the conservation of energy. Shulk, who earlier let Kirby absorb him, is demonstrating the most effective ways to use the Monado arts with Kirby intensely focusing. Shulk holds his sword the Monado to his side with the edge pointing downward, saying something that is inaudible from where Falco is standing and is enshrouded in a yellow aura. He runs and jumps around Kirby to show how slow he has become and then says something else. Kirby repeats Shulk's motions and is engulfed in a yellow light as well, running and hoping to get become accustomed to his newfound weight. Falco shifts his eye to his right before catching the rest of the demonstration.  
Peach has her left hand resting on Donkey Kong's right shoulder with a very sympathetic look on her face. Her lips move but again, Falco cannot heart what has been said. He shifts his gaze to the left to observe Ike practicing his moves on Sandbag alternating between punches kicks and sword strikes. Ike sweeps Sandbag with his Down Smash, lifting it in the air an impressive height due to how much damage it has accumulated and finishes his combo with an Up Smash, launching it into to the sky, shrinking from sight until it is nothing but a sparkle. Ike stands there with a neutral expression on his face.  
"Oops," he says to himself.  
Showoff, Falco thinks. He turns back to his right only to be caught off guard by Marth's eerie blank stare. His pupils dilate again but he composes himself before jumping.  
"What?" Falco asked, putting up a bravado. Marth refuses to say anything. "What?"  
Again, Marth is silent. Falco turns his whole body to Marth.  
"Can I help you with something?" Falco asks slowly yet noticeably louder.  
"You're bothered by something," Marth replies.  
Falco is instantly taken aback by Marth's accurate assessment. His eye dilate for a third time and a nearly inaudible gulp escapes his throat. He returns to his previous position and looks in the opposite direction.  
"I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout," Falco responds with another pinch of bravado.  
"You can't hide it from me Falco. The only way to make it more obvious would be to write it all over your face."  
This time Falco was the one who remained silent. He wasn't the type to be open about his feelings. Marth walks over to put his right hand over Falco's left shoulder.  
"Falco," he calmly begins. "You don't have to put up a front. That day, we all learned a little bit more about our limitations. Some faster than others. I mean, look at me." Marth grins. "I thought I could slow him down for even a second but boy way I wrong."  
Falco couldn't recognize if that was a joke or not. Marth may have had expert rhetoric but his sense of humor at times left something to be desired. Marth realizes his failure in making any noticeable change in Falco's disposition and reverts back to his original serious demeanor.  
"But right now is not the time to give in to our fear. We cannot let the failures of yesterday hinder the success of today. Right now, not one of us has the power to stand up to that monster. Last time was already indicator that individually, we're woefully out gunned. But it's not like last time. Look around you."  
Marth forces Falco to turn around to see the rest of the fighters. Donkey Kong who only moments ago looked like he had never know happiness wore a very toothy smile that forced him to close his eyes with Peach sharing in the moment. Mr. Game & Watch was using his neutral special Chef flips multiple sausages with the occasional fish at Little Mac, who dodges every article. Ike observes Kirby chase Shulk around with the speed enhancement and put a rare smile. The Duck Hunt Dog launches a clay disc with his mouth. After a few seconds, the disc explodes. The dog repeats the motion again.  
"It's not like last time. And we're not alone. We're all doing everything we can in preparation for the coming storm and as long as we've got each other by our sides, we've nothing to fear. It also helps that we're pretty much hacking the universe to win this fight so our chance of success is relatively higher. We will come out of this victorious my friend and we will enter tomorrow. You have my word."  
Falco is at a loss for words. He feels as if an entire load was lifted off his back. His chest feels comfortably light. Falco looks down momentarily and chuckles before focusing his gaze on Marth who had a confident smile.  
"Get outta my face before I blast ya a new one," Falco says.  
Marth taps Falco's shoulder before walking off towards Ike's direction.  
Falco folds his arms yet again. "Freaking mook," says under his breath after Marth is out of ear shot with a smile still plastered on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

The behemoth Giga Bowser releases a cry capable of piercing the heavens and sending them crumbling towards the land below it. His shriek is answered with an arrow lit a flame at the tip nestled an inch inside the top fold of his left nostril. He pauses briefly to fully immerse himself in an insurmountable rage. He cocks his right arm back and then launches it downward to the ground stories below him, only managing to scrape away chunks of grass and dirt. He scans around the area he swiped, taking heed to look for his crafty adversaries who nearly blend in perfectly with the green grass. After observing nothing but greenery for two seconds, he is meet with a blue bomb making impact on the same spot where the lit arrow was, causing an enormous explosion knocking his head backwards nearly causing him to lose balance. A crude smoke follows his path. In seconds, his rage renewed Giga Bowser recovers popping his head out of the crudely depicted clouds only to be acquainted with the ferocity that are the Master Swords being weld by the boys clad in emerald who know no fear. The Links slash at Giga Bowser's eyes, the taller flipping into a landing behind him while Toon Link just falls because he's not as flexible. Giga Bowser is less than amused and decides to respond with his signature flame breath that could put the pits of hell to shame. Link the Taller bracing himself puts up his right arm carrying the Master Shield to protect himself. Toon Link takes advantage of his tiny frame and speed to pull out an arrow, bring the tip close enough to the fire to light it up, and mount himself in the perfect aiming position two meters outside of Giga Bowser's range, tail included, all in one summersault.  
Several feet away from the epic battle between man and beast, the haughty knight Duke is dashing towards the scene with his trusty and less enthused companion Willard the spearman following in utero.  
"Oy!" Duke exclaims. "S'mighty fine sight to behold, ain't it?"  
"Indeed my friend," Willard squeezes out between a pant. "Perhaps that's all it should be."  
"Ay, none of that! We've too far to haul tail an' quit now!"  
"Very well," Willard sighs. He curls the middle and ring fingers of his left hand while extending the index, pinky and thumb (so basically a rock and roll sign), brings it up to his mouths and blows flame onto the tips of his spear. He launches it right towards the back of Giga Bowser's head. Midflight, the spear takes the form of an orange V as the flames are spread by a combination of the wind and magic. Giga Bowser just so happened to turn around when the spear was tossed and arches his head to the left with surprising speed, whilst also coincidentally striking Link, who had double jumped to go for a head slash, in the shoulder and releasing a terrible cry and sending him crashing towards the ground. Toon Link followed the trajectory of the spear and met the two soldiers with an unamused grimace. Duke looks back at his friend with the same disapproval.  
"It could have happened to the best of us," Willard defended, conjuring another spear using a spell.  
Toon Link shifts his attention back to the behemoth stomping his way. Giga Bowser slowly lifts his right knee to his chest and brings it down with tremendous force. However, in the time it took him to raise his leg, Toon Link pulls drops a bomb between his legs and summersaults away, leaving Giga Bowser's foot scorched. However, the shock wave from him stomping was strong enough to blow Toon Link several meters away, his weight not helping. Toon Link thrusts his copy of the Master Sword into the ground to quickly recover, ready to face the beast head on once again.  
Link grips his shoulder and grunts from the pain. He focuses his scowl on the two unwanted foot soldiers heading his way.  
"Aye there Link laddy!" Duke boisterously greets the angry pixy. Link responds by pointing his sword at him. Duke raises his hands to gesture no harm. "Whoa there, just take it easy lad."  
Link does not take it easy and proceeds to look at the two with intense disdain before dropping his arm. With his shield arm he points to the other direction, signaling to the soldiers to head back from whence they came from. Without waiting for a response, he turns around and dashes towards the battle. Duke folds his arms and scoffs.  
"The nerve of some people," Duke says. "Hogging all the glory to himself. Who's he think he is? Who's he think we is?"  
"Perhaps he's got the right idea," Willard exclaims as he steadies his aim. "If those two are having trouble, call me a pessimist but I highly doubt we'd stand a ghost of a chance."  
"Bah. It's not about the size of the fighter. It's about the size of the fight in the fighter!"  
"Okay, I don't recall mentioning size but I get the jest of what you're saying."  
"That's the spirit!"  
Giga Bowser viciously chases down the Links down the green path leaving himself wide open to an attack from behind. Duke rushes in with all his might to catch up to the beast, going red from exhaust. Using the strength he's gathered through years of honing his muscles, Duke leaps into the air and lands smack in the middle of the scaly shell, right grabbing hold of a spike with his right hand and placing his feet on two others to ready maintain equilibrium as to not fall of. Grabbing another spike, he shifts his body backwards leaving his arms stretched and pulls himself forward, propelling him right above Giga Bowser's head. Doing a flip to make sure he's facing his foe, Duke times himself to make sure he grabs the horns, placing him right on top of the nose of the demon.  
"Ello' lady!" Duke boisterously exclaims, delivering a kick to Giga Bower's left eye. Giga Bowser is unamused to say the least and raises his right arm with intent to strike. However, Duke planned for this to happen. Swiftly, he pulls himself up using the horns as leverage, placing his legs in the space between Giga Bower's eyes at a ninety degree angle. Then he pushes off launching himself backwards in time to evade the mighty strike. By the time Giga Bowser noticed, his hand was too close to his face to stop, thus smacking himself and launching his head backwards. Duke lands right between the Links with a very confident smile. Giga Bowser lets his rage know through the land with an Earth shattering roar, stunning the warriors. With rage and adrenaline flowing through his veins, the demon lunges forward with leaving no time for the two lower class warriors to respond. Before they realize it, they are being dragged away by a set of claws. Link used his hook shot to grab Duke while Toon Link used his to grab Willard. Giga Bowser still raging forward leaves himself an easy target for Toon Link's bomb which makes contact with his face, blinding him temporarily. After he clears the smoke with his gigantic hands, he sees that his prey have fled the scene. He scans the green horizon to no avail. Seemingly losing his targets, he pushes forward, sprinting ahead.  
The Links and the soldiers took refuge behind an enormous moss covered boulder. Link carefully peeks his head around the right corner to observe Giga Bowser until he is out of sight. He gives his peers the OK signal to which they respond with a sigh of relief.  
"Aye, lads," Duke proclaims with his trademark boisterousness. "We sure gave him that what for, I'll say…"  
He is cut off by Toon Link who shoves him on his left shoulder, glaring at him with an intense scowl. If looks could kill, Duke would be long dead. Toon Link grunts or whatever it is he does when he wants to say something. Shit if I know.  
"Whaddaya mean we've only gotten in the way?" Duke defends.  
Toon Link grunts.  
"We are not a liability! We just nearly saved yer green asses back there!"  
Toon Link grunts.  
"My Lord man, you kiss yer mother with that mouth?"  
"In their defense," Willard adds in. "All we really did was put a wrench in the plans of our esteemed heroes here.  
Toon Link grunts.  
"You're very much welcome," Willard responds smirking at the fact he was acknowledged by the people he holds to such high regard.  
"Aye, aye, aye!" Willard butts in. "Why're we still sittin' on our rears when we've got a hell spawn to take car off…"  
This time, Link grunts letting his disdain known.  
"You shut up," Duke shoots back.  
Link sucks his teeth and puts his left hand on the side of his head, closing his eyes to concentrate.  
"What's he…" Duke barely lets out before being silenced by Willard.  
"Perhaps it would be appropriate if you actually did shut up this time," Willard responds.  
After a few moments of silence, an energy sword falls slowly from the sky. Duke wastes no time picking it up to examine it.  
"What manner of sorcery is this?" Willard asks.  
Link does his best impression of a Neanderthal.  
"Princess Zelda be a witch?"  
Link crumples his face. Toon Link grunts.  
"Right, because magic doesn't make you a witch. Tsk, can you believe these fellows Willard?"  
"Yes," Willard responds. "Actually, I can."  
"Wait, wait—wait," Willard spouts signaling with his left hand for everyone to keep quit. "Does anyone else hear that?"  
The warriors are silence themselves. The only sounds that are audible is a slow and heavy rhythmic panting, accompanied by the unbearable stench of singed flesh and charcoal. Sweat engulfs the faces of the warriors as they slowly turn around to the all too familiar face of their foe from moments ago. Duke might have chalked it up to his nerves but as they were face-to-face with this satanic juggernaut, he could have sworn Giga Bowser smiled. A sight made more nerve racking by the creatures glowing, pupil less eyes. Willard did not know what was worse: the seemingly wanton destruction it has laid since it's wake or the possibility of a premeditated rampage. Mindless chaos is one thing but it takes a true demon, a monster unlike myth to willingly cause such havoc, fully aware of the consequences of their actions. Such is the hallmark of a soulless, hollow being. The last thing Willard remembers before blacking out is a tangerine hue fused with hints of black, creating a scenery that not unlike an abstract piece of art. How beautiful, he could not help but think. Just like my son's… Just like Jacob's…


	7. Chapter 7

"No…" Zelda quietly gasps as she reaches out in front of herself, crunching up her face in sorrow.  
"Focus, princess," Mewtwo demands. "We cannot account for every error made on the battlefield. Such is the nature of war."  
Zelda looks down as she places her right hand on her face. In the endless framework similar to the depths of space, the only thing that can be heard are a young woman's sobs.  
"Well, thanks for being a buzzkill," Ness criticizes.  
Mewtwo sighs and places his left hand on Zelda's right shoulder.  
"I'm sorry," he begins. "But we do not have the luxury of…" but he realizes the futility of his words. "Just don't take too long."  
"Soooo…" Ness adds in. "Maybe we should alert someone?"  
Mewtwo's eyes glow blue.  
"Pit," he calls out.  
"Mewtwo," Pit mentally replies.  
"Giga Bowser is moving. Make sure you and your battalion intercept and lure him to the stadium. Our final siege is shortly coming. I'm sending over items to assist you. I'll have Ness alert the rest of the fighters."  
"Roger that," Pit replies.  
"One more thing. Don't die."  
"Hmph."  
Mewtwo's eyes return to their normal appearance. He looks over to Zelda with sympathy and patience, a feat he has no recollection of prior.  
"Zelda…" he says calmly.  
The princess presses both hands against her face and rubs them until the slide off of her cheeks. She turns up and closes her eyes and then sighs. She remains that way for three seconds. She opens her eyes and turns to Mewtwo with sheer determination, an unkempt flame begging to dance upon its prey.  
"I'm ready," Zelda replies.  
In unison, the two close their eyes raises both of their arms, engulfing themselves in a blue light. Several smaller bright lights are glowing and move, taking the form of a beautiful meteor shower.  
"My turn," Ness says with a smirk, cracking his knuckles. He closes his eyes and makes psychic contact with Marth.  
"Marth," he calls out.  
Back in the stadium, Marth is caught off guard by the sudden intrusion of his mental physique. He composes himself and responds with a dictatorial tone.  
"Yes."  
"Pit's battalion is leading Giga Bowser towards the stadium. We'll be sending over items shortly. Are you guys ready?"  
Marth turns to his sight to the friends and rivals he has come to share a deep respect and admiration for. He is met by many proud and happy gazes. As varied as the expressions are, they all had one thing in common: A ferocious urge to fight for their allies and extinguish this flame that has engulfed far too many lives. As many as they are, today in this moment, they fight together as one. Marth can't help but smirk.  
"We're ready," he proudly answers.  
"Okay," Ness responds.

"Fox," Sheik calls out from upon the ruins formerly known as Bowser's Castle.  
"We haven't scouted this area yet."  
Fox dashes over to Sheik's location and flips over some rubble.  
"Plus five style points," Sheik says.  
"Noice," Fox responds as they both dash ahead.  
Several meters north from Sheik's observe point, Fox and Sheik discover the rubble of formerly known as Bowser's Kingdom. Characterized by many portraits of Bowser in various positions of power bended, ripped, and burned in several places along the broken up statues of his likeness discarded across a charcoal colored grass. Warp Pipes varying in green, red, and yellow were also sliced to bits and enshrouded in claw marks. It would take someone of tremendous power to achieve this feet. Fox and Sheik observe the seemingly deserted ruins for a moment until Fox notices a shiny, rectangular piece of technology a few feet away. He puts his left hand on Sheik's right shoulder and points to it with his other. The two of them sprint towards the device. Upon closer inspection, they discover it is a smart phone covered with a light red case with a Wendy O. Koopa charm attached to it, it ice skating on thin air holding a ring bracelet in her left hand with her trademark evil grin. The screen was cracked.  
"What is this?" Sheik asks.  
"A phone," Fox answers. "A smart phone to be exact."  
"I was not aware that phones were capable of intelligent thought. What manner of sorcery is this?"  
Fox chuckles. "Uh, it's just technology. Arbitrary technology at that. It's pretty a common device actually."  
Sheik's eyes widen. Fox could practically smell Sheik's embarrassment. To that he smugly smiles. Sheik's eyes get serious.  
"You tell no one about this," she says pointing her right index finger at Fox's face.  
"No promises," Fox says as he smugly looks to the side and smiles. Sheik unsheathes her dagger and flashes it right in front of him.  
"You take your life as a joke?"  
Fox nervously chuckles. "Uh, so let's check this phone for clues, yeah?" He rummages his finger through all sides of the device as Sheik sheathes her dagger and studies it with curiosity and bewilderment. After fingering it for a few seconds, he discovers a small button on the upper right hand side of the phone and holds it until the screen lights up, greeting them with a Nintendo logo.  
"I hate that they make these buttons so small and similar," Fox shares. "It's like they want us to struggle finding the power button. Sometimes I end up turning off my phone while I'm listening to music because I mistake it for the volume button because it's right under it. I swear, these phone makers are evil."  
Sheik observes the button Fox pressed and points to it. "This button has a symbol on it."  
Fox studies the button and sees a tiny white "c" flipped on its back with a line sticking out of the gap. It helps that it was etched into the button. Fox thinks back on all of the times he could have avoided accidentally turning off his phone while he was internet browsing or talking to Crystal on the phone, leaving the impression that he rudely hung up on her. His jaw drops and his pupils take the size of periods. Sheik takes note of his embarrassment and smirks with her eyes.  
"You tell. No one. About this," Fox says in a deadly serious tone pointing at Sheik with his free hand.  
"No promises," Sheik says in a devious tone, a smile so wide it made visible lines through the mask. Fox intensely inhales, his palm facing skywards shaking with fury as he stares at Sheik with a not so serious scowl. A second later he shifts his focus to the phone while squinting his eyes. He's at the home screen with several icons for internet, YouTube and several games including ports for Pac-Man and Super Mario Land. With his right thumb, fox presses the an icon, four white lines going down forming a square, on the bottom right hand corner of the phone. It was the standard icon for recent apps used. The latest apps used were from least to most recent were Tinder, Instagram, and the camera. Fox opens the camera app.  
The phone then shows a high resolution image of the ground below him. An icon shaped like a movie camera appears on the right side of the screen right above a dim version of a camera used to take pictures. He was in record mode. At the bottom of the screen, there were four square windows with thumbnails of Roy Koopa giving Larry a noogie, Wendy winking at the screen, all of the Koopalings in go karts drifting on a road with Wendy in the lead as Iggy has been flipped over by a green shell, and the latest one Lemmy looking back to the screen with a devious look following Roy, Ludwig, Morton, and Bowser Jr., all in their clown karts. Fox presses that thumbnail since the latest one seems to be the most important to finding clues.

The Koopalings giggled uncontrollably. Bowser Jr., Lemmy, and Ludwig were carrying assist trophies in their hands.  
"Sh-shut up guys," Bowser Jr. whispered. "He's gonna hear us and then we'll be busted."  
"You're laughing too," Iggy pointed out.  
"You just like telling people what to do," Ludwig accuses Bowser Jr.  
"How about all of you shut up?!" Wendy whispered. "You guys are gonna wake the whole castle at this rate!"  
"Says the loudest one here," Larry pointed out.  
"SHUT UP, LARRY!" Wendy whispered. The rest of the Koopalings chuckled. After a long pilgrimage through a hallway filled with caricatures of Bowser in several poses indicating what he perceived showed authority and sophistication mimicking the likeness of Julius Ceasar, Joseph Stalin and John F. Kennedy among others, they arrive at a red door with a large picture of Bowser looking down with his hands on his hips above it.  
"Remember," Iggy warned. "We have to do it exactly like the video shows. Or it may not work."  
"Yeah, yeah," Bowser Jr. responded.  
"Who put you in charge?" Ludwig asked.  
"Lemmy is saying words," Lemmy added in.  
With Bowser Jr. leading, the Koopalings open the door.  
Bowser slumbers on a big ass bed that has space for several more people, his arms and left leg stretch at his sides while his right leg slightly bent while slouching over to the right. His immense snoring made it impossible for any other sound to be detected. A snot bubble slowly built up and popped during every snore. The Koopalings share in an inaudible laugh until Bowser Jr. silences them. He pointed to his father to signify his brethren to get into position. Lemmy and Morton go around the bed on Bowser's right, Morton positioning himself at least half a foot away from Bowser, while Ludwig floats two feet away from Bowser's left. Jr. hands Roy the assist trophy as he moves next to Ludwig. Iggy began a countdown with his fingers starting with three. Upon zero, he swings his arm down to point at Bowser.  
Ludwig, Roy, and Lemmy throw their assist trophies to the ground. A violent colored version of Mewtwo, Gannondorf and Dr. Mario pop out. The doppelganger Mewtwo charges a Shadow Ball to full power while the Gannondorf charges his Warlock Punch. At full power, the Mewtwo releases his attack and right before Ganndorf's attack connects, Dr. Mario low jumps and fire a Megavitamin. Bowser's eyes open while his snot bubble pops. Morton, scared out of his wits, dashes towards Bowser and grabs him using the pulley from his clown kart, the only way he could have had Bowser remain stationary. Bowser quickly sits up and grabs Morton right out of his kart in an instant. He was no stranger to having assassins or plumbers making an attempt on his life, which is exactly why he doesn't have guards for his quarters. He welcomes anyone to try.  
"What is the meaning of…?!" Bowser spits out. But before he can finish, all of the attacks make contact with him simultaneously. Bowser's face rapidly shifted between proportions followed by various parts of his body doing the same. The doppelgangers disperse after their attacks landed.  
"Wendy!" Jr. shouted look directly at the camera.  
"I know!" Wendy responds zooming in on the sight taking place before them. Lightning bolts crashing through the stone ceiling with no effort strike Bowser, a piece of discarded rubble hitting Iggy in the face shattering his glasses while knocking him out of his. His eyes glow an intense white that would have blinded the Koopalings in a larger quantity. Bowser screamed and arched his torso backwards, every fiber in his being lit on fire. He tenses his muscles, translating to a tightened grip on Morton to which he made a cross eyed frown. The rest of the Koopalings are paralyzed with fear and amazement. Several tiny explosions surround Bowser, making the rest of the Koopalings take shelter behind furniture and Morton screaming, Wendy being careful to catch the full spectacle behind a large table carrying a lamp. Then, a demonized version of Bowser literally brakes through his skin like a wrecking ball on a building.  
After seconds of silence Jr. peeked from behind Wendy. Morton who shielded his eyes with his hands out of fear peaks through a gap between his fingers to see the steel grimace of King Koopa, his shell covered in spikey scales, the spikes on his shell made longer and more menacing along with the claws on his hands and legs which were wider as well, the horns on his head curving reminiscent of The Devil, his body proportions made bulkier and longer. Even his hair took on a cryptic appearance, growing in length and looking like a lit flame. Curiously enough he was not actually any larger in size before his transformation. In fact, he actually seemed even smaller.  
"Guys," Jr. calls out. "Look."  
The Koopalings gather around Bowser from the sides of the bed.  
"Huh," Ludwig said blankly. "Gotta admit, did not expect that to work."  
"Regardless," Jr. responded with a sly grin. "You still lost the bet. So…"  
"Actually," Ludwig grunts, putting his left hand in front of them revealing his middle finger wrapped around his index. "I had my fingers crossed the entire time. Since I never agreed to anything, I technically never lost anything."  
Jr.'s face turns red as steam blows out of the side of head. "NOW LISTEN HERE," Jr. starts.  
"Uh," Morton said. "Can somebody get me down from here before I make a mess in my shell?"  
"Dude," Roy chuckled, his arms folded to signify his confidence. "Quit lying. You can smell that all the way from the Mushroom Kingdom."  
Lemmy giggles.  
"Shuuuuuut uppppp," Morton whispers very embarrassed.  
Lemmy observed Iggy. "Iggy got thowmped," he noted.  
Iggy groaned.  
Larry observes his siblings bickering amoung themselves and sighs, his mind ruled by the thought of the wrath of Bowser once he finds out it was them that were the cause of this not so harmless prank. Even though he didn't actually do anything, he speculated Bowser would punish them all as a unit. He shifts his gaze at Bowser, still staring blankly forward. After a few seconds of observation Larry blinks and his heart skips a beat as his eyes meet with Bowser's.  
"Uh," Larry nervously said. "G-guys. Guys…"  
In an instant, Bowser tosses Morton into a stone wall, making him ricochet all across the room, not giving Roy any time to react to the sudden interruption in the conversation, his arms still folded but his dropping leaving his mouth open. The wind from Morton zipping past him made his shades slide down slightly revealing terrified eyes.  
"What the shell?!" Jr. exclaims.  
"Oh my God," Wendy weakly lets out, her energy drained from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Then without warning, Bower leapt into the air and delivered a Ground Pound so powerful it shattered the stone floor below them.  
"OH MY GOD!" Wendy screams. That was the last thing heard before a rock flies past the phone, grazing it and distorting the screen.

Sheik and Fox stand utterly stupefied by what they have just witnessed. Fox swallows to regain a bit a fluid in his mouth.  
"What," he started. "The. Hell."  
"You mean to tell me," Sheik says letting her fury very apparent. "All of this—all of this madness, this wanton destruction happened because of some stupid children's prank?!"  
Afterwards, Sheik walks up to the disembodied head of a Bowser statue with a smile so wide it reveals the contents of his mouth. She rains both arms into the air tensing her fists and releases a low scream that increases with every passing second reaching its peak when her arms come crashing down, shattering the head to indistinguishable pieces. She stands there for a seconds looking down upon the rubble below her, ashamed that she let herself get so discomposed in spite of her training to keep her anger in check.  
"Wait," Fox calls out. "How could they possibly know about what happened then?"  
After a moment, Sheik, who gripped both of her biceps out of shame finally responded albeit weakly.  
"Maybe he told them."  
"No. We all agreed to keep this catastrophe under wraps. And Bowser's pride wouldn't allow himself to tell the Koopalings about such a colossal failure."  
Another moment passes by.  
"Vee-dee-yo," Sheik enunciates. Fox looks up from the phone at Sheik.  
"What?" he chuckles?  
"One of the Koopalings mentions a vee-de-yo."  
"A video," Fox corrects. "And Sheik, you're a genius. Maybe we might find a clue from Wendy's YouTube history."  
"Aside from that justified compliment, I have no idea what you just said."  
Fox touches the recent apps icon and clicks on the YouTube icon. On Wendy's profile, he clicks on the history icon.  
"No dice," Fox says. "All she's been watching lately are cat videos and clips of Channing Tatum from Magic Mike."  
Sheik walks over to Fox to observe the screen for a second.  
"Fox McCloud," Sheik says. "In the near future, you will get me more information on this Mike of the Magic."  
Fox glares at Shek.  
"Er…" Fox stammers.  
Suddenly, Sheik takes a defensive position and raises her hand to Fox's mouth.  
"Wait," she abruptly and sternly says. She looks to her left side for three seconds. She swiftly tip toes west of where they are signaling Fox to follow who did so. They were behind a large piece of what appears to be part of the roof of the castle that miraculously remained in tack. Sheik peeks her head around the corner and observes the horizon for a moment.  
"Uh," Fox eventually says. "Yeah, what exactly are we looking at here? Besides a repeat of what we've been looking at for like thirty minutes now?"  
"Shh…" Sheik commands, putting a finger over where her mouth is hidden under her mask. "Do you here that?"  
Another moment passes.  
"Nothing but good ol' eerie silence. Yeah, my favorite."  
Sheik snickers. "Those big ears are useless."  
Sheik runs ahead and does a mid-air front flip over parts of a pipe and a decapitated statue.  
"H-hey…" Fox says half seriously grasping his ears and pulling downward on them before repeating Sheik's movements and landing next to her. Sheik takes a defensive stance, bending her knees while crouching slightly and gripping the dagger on her back with her left hand.  
"Me being half ninja," Sheik explains. "I have a heightened sense of awareness for my surroundings."  
"And?"  
"And being a princess, I'm also very skilled at noticing when I'm being followed."  
Sheik pulls out six needles and tosses them behind herself, seemingly aiming at nothing. The sound of needles piercing stone is heard. Then a nearly inaudible "Yow!" follows. Sheik and Fox look at each other before Sheik dashes ahead while simultaneously preparing more needles with Fox following, pulling out his laser pistol and gripping it with both hands having it aimed at the air. As they approach the origin of the yelp, they hear the sound of footsteps and rubble falling. Their prey was slower than them and much less graceful. Swiftly bouncing off walls and discarded pipe pieces, Fox and Sheik close in on their target whose shadow, which was nothing but an indistinguishable flat figure from their perspective, was seen going around a large chunk of castle. Sheik teleports, leaving a smoke cloud behind and Fox uses his Phantom Fox to past the corner, doing a summersault and quickly positioning himself up right, his laser pistol aimed directly in front him. He is joined by Sheik who appears next to him after another cloud of smokes, crouched down and prepared to throw her needles.  
"Free…" Fox demands with routine authority but immediately stops. His eyes widen and his mouth opens slightly. Sheik stands up straight as shock fills her eyes.  
"By the gods…" she gasped.  
"Please," Jr. weakly says, his body littered with scrapes, bruises, and dust. "We-we-we don't want any trouble. Behind him are the battered bodies Wendy kneeling in front of Kamek with sadness in her eyes, Morton sitting against a wall with an angry expression, Iggy without his glasses squinting his eyes, Roy sitting across from them to a parallel wall, his eyes hidden behind his shades and Lemmy peeking his head out of his shell to observe the two bewildered troops with a look of utter despair.


	8. Chapter 8

Giga Bowser dashes through an immense meadow, kicking up patches of dirt and grass periodically, each step causing small tremors. Mega Man stands atop of a section of the stadium above the bleachers, magnifying the image of Giga Bowser with his highly advanced optics installed in his eyes. He gasps then jumps off into the interior, his arms and legs extended as he takes a free fall position. He flips and lands on his feet but hunches over slightly, his arms balled up in fists at his sides.

"He's…" Mega Man begins but is interrupted by the sudden lack of sunlight around him. He swings his head around, arming his left hand with his trademark Mega Buster. Ike sticks his sword firmly into the dirt.

"Brace yourselv-!" He cries out to his at the top of his lungs to his comrades, turning his head to gain the attention of those behind him. However, his effort was in vain. Before anyone else has time to even think about reacting, Giga Bowser delivers a devastating version of his technique Bowser Bomb, slamming his rear on the ground, causing a shockwave that spreads across the interior of the stadium. Several fighters are rammed into the seats and the underside of the bleachers from the wind alone. Ike is lifted his off the ground, giving the impression of flight. With enough dirt and grass moving to give the illusion of a dirt storm, Ike can barely keep his eyes open. After a moment, the storm subsides and Ike lands on his knees, still holding onto the sheath of his sword. With his right knee on the ground and his left leg bent, he presses down on the hilt of his sword as he stares down at the pupil-less eyes of Giga Bowser, whose nose ejected steam upon each exhalation. He cocks his head back, raises his arms with his palms facing the sky, and releases an enormous roar. In response, Ike rubs his right eye with the side of his clenched right fist, stands up straight and lifts up his sword in front of him, gripping it with both hands. He slightly squints his eyes as his hair, headband, and cape dance in the wind.

"I hope you're prepared cretin," he valiantly proclaims.

Giga Bowser ejects flame breath in Ike's direction.

Mega Man regains awareness as he scans the interior of the stadium. Did I...did I go offline? he ponders. He observes Donkey Kong run up behind Giga Bowser and jumps to climb his spiked shell while he breathes fire. Donkey Kong reaches his head and pulls back on his horns, propelling his flame into the sky. Ike remained unharmed throughout the onslaught. Must have been his sword, Mega Man deduced as he notes Peach pulling a smiling turnip from the ground and Shulk glowing green and running towards Giga Bowser. Then he contemplates as to how he still alive. He looks around and notices he was blown into the middle row of the bleachers, breaking it upon impact but has no idea what saved him. He feels a fist gently knocking on his head twice and turns to the left to look up.

"You're welcome," Sonic says, surprisingly with a scowl on his face.

"You could've died," Mega Man says out of concern.

"Story of my life."

"Thanks anyway." Mega Man stands up and dusts himself off with light pats around his body.

"Hey, less talky, more blast horn head in his koopa shells."

On that note, Sonic dashes to the right of Giga Bowser mid-blink. Mega Man jumps up at Sonic's sudden disappearance. He sees Sonic take the form of a Spin Attack as he drifts around from the right, kicking up dirt into Giga Bowser's eyes and mouth. He reflexively spits dirt downward. Sonic cartwheels to the right and jumps back while shifting into a brief back pedal to avoid the spit, which causes steam to arise. Ike simply steps to the side.

"He's stunned!" Marth yells pushing off a broken section of the bleachers with his left elbow, propelling it with his hand. "Attack now!"

Reflexively, Samus fires a purple missile, remotely guiding it towards Giga Bowser's face. Donkey Kong forces Giga Bowser's head forward as it makes contact with the missile, causing a relatively small explosion sending his head back again. Immediately, Donkey Kong forces his head forward again before doing a front flip, delivering a backwards kick between his eyes. Falco pulls out his laser pistol and barely has enough time to aim it before a gust of wind hits him, and he sees a blue figure sprinting like a track star ahead of him. The figure jumps in the air, jumps off of Donkey Kong who was still in mid-air, and flips a few meters in front of Giga Bowser's head.

" _Falcon…_ " the man passionately yells.

"Idiot," Samus says to herself as she fires a quick green missile straight into Giga Bowser's stomach, bringing his head forward once again as it makes contact.

" _PUNCH!_ " the man yells. An enormous falcon made of flames surrounds his right arm and much of the right side of his torso. The punch connects with Giga Bowser's left cheek, creating a huge dent of flesh while making a very audible thud, forcing his left eye to slightly close. The skin on his face ripples, mirroring the effect of a rock penetrating a river.

"Nice one Captain!" Sonic exclaims as his pumps his right arm in the air.

"Excellent work," Ike casually says as he runs forward.

"Show off," Falco passive aggressively scoffs as he fires blue lasers.

Donkey Kong lands on his back with his feet facing the sky. Captain Falcon lands with his left leg bent at 90 degrees, cushioning his fall his right fist and knee,. He wears a triumphant smile.

"Thanks for the assist Samus," Captain Falcon yells to Samus as he does a cartwheel to the right, narrowly avoiding Giga Bowser's unsympathetic foot.

"Don't count on it again" shouts Samus while charging her laser blaster. "I'm not here as your backup dancer."

"Oh? Who says that wasn't part of the plan?"

"That wasn't part of the plan."

"Whatever you say."

"I don't want to hear you complain if your flashy shit gets you killed."

"Aww, you _do_ care."

Marth dashes to the left side of Giga Bowser, Laser Scope in his left hand, rapidly firing yellow laser pellets at Giga Bowser's leg. In retaliation, Giga Bowser lifts his left leg up like a sumo wrestler, hands on his knees and all, and brings it down heavy. Marth tries to roll out of the way but is caught in the shock from the explosion, propelling him forward. He flies fourteen feet, hitting the ground and rolling periodically. Then, he recovers into a mid air roll, taking cues from Ike by sticking his sword into the ground, slowing down his landing after skidding a few more feet.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Marth murmurs to himself.

Toon Link runs as fast as he can through a seemingly endless meadow of grass, leaving Duke and Willard behind. The three of them were blackened in several areas from Giga Bowser's last onslaught. The pointy tip of Toon Link's cap was burned off, leaving a ring of grey in its place. Duke futilely swings his arms forward, panting each time. Willard, carrying a few spears under his left armpit, easily surpasses him with very light steps.

"How?!" Willard shouts as his friend leaves him in the dust.

"Balls of the feet my friend," Willard says casually as the gap between them steadily increases.

Duke swings his arms harder while taking careless strides, his face red. His speed only slightly increases. After a few more feet of nothing but panting, Willard makes his presence known.

"Hey Link!" Duke shouts between breaths. "Slow it down a bit, why doncha?!"

Toon Link skids into a stop. Willard takes note and slows his pacing down into an eventual stop. Slowly, Toon Link turns his head around to meet Duke with an intense scowl. Duke eventually catches up to the two, hunching over while putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Give me," Duke spouts between breaths. "A sec…"

Duke gasps for air for a full eight seconds before bending his right arm and twirling it, culminating in him straightening his posture and putting his fists on his hips while grinning. His grin along with his long red beard slowly begin to drop as he takes note of the angry boy in green starring.

"Ay, careful lad," Duke warns, half serious. "You could burn holes in me staring like that."

For a few seconds, a gust of the wind was the only thing audible between the three. Willard looks at Toon Link with a worried expression, then turns his attention to Duke.

"Bad choice of words my friend," Willard states with unamusement in his voice. He has grown far too used to Duke's lack of tact or conscientiousness.

Toon Link grunts indifferently. Willard winces, anticipating his friend's reaction. Duke raises an eyebrow while scrunching the other.

"Excuse me?" Duke asks going on the defense.

Toon Link grunts indifferently.

"You've got some nerve you little moss stain!"

"Link," Willard steps in. "That's not fair. You can't blame Duke entirely for what happened to Link."

Toon Link shouts something unintelligible to the normal ear.

"...Yes, you have every right to be angry with us. We weren't part of the plan. We shouldn't have interferred. But at the same time, you have to be sympathetic towards us."

Toon Link moves his left leg forward, making various loud noises with his mouth.

"Link, we're soldiers. All of us. Not one of us, not a single one of us chose this career without expecting to give our lives at any moment. To sacrifice ourselves, abandoning the lives we've led before without any notice. I'm not entirely sure whether you realize this but you are an idol, and inspiration to people like us. You selflessly fight the forces of evil putting our land in harm's way on a bimonthly basis. Duke and I? We're nobodies."

"Aye man…" Duke interrupts.

"We're just two faces in a much larger organization composed of hundreds of us. We're expendable."

Toon Link maintains a look of discontent momentarily. He looks down to his left, showing a hint of remorse in his face. Willard continues.

"I won't deny that your brother died a heroic death. And I can't deny that without his sacrifice, none of us would be standing here bickering amongst ourselves. I can't thank him enough and my gratitude is eternal. But all he was doing was his job, his responsibility. He made the ultimate choice for his fellow man not because anyone asked him to but because that's the kind of man he was. Link, I'm asking you, let us do ours. Let us help."

Toon Link picks his face up, staring at the two with a hint of hesitation. Duke walks over in front of him, his shadow eclipsing the young boy.

"Link," Duke sincerely says. "I was the one who dragged Willard into this. It's my fault Link's dead."

"Duke…" Willard says reassuringly.

"Shut up Willard. If I wasn't so overzealous, none of this would've happened and the plan would be well underway."

A gust of wind breezes across the meadow they are standing on.

"He gave his life for me. Just let me make this right."

Toon Link looks up to the man who was easily twice his size and then some. The only thing audible between the three of them was an enormous gust of wind passes them, lifting strands of grass and dirt into the air. Toon Link's sigh is lost in translation.


	9. Chapter 9

"I can't believe this," Fox says, eyes closed, pinching the space between them with his left index finger and thumb.

"Unbelievable," Sheik says crossing her arms.

"Okay," Bowser Jr. pleads with his arms extended. "I get where you're coming from but  
hear us out…"

Fox stomps his way over to Bowser Jr. and hunches over to get in his face, making  
Jr. flinch.

"Do you even realize the magnitude of what you've done? Do you know how many people  
have _died_ because of your lame sense of humor?!"

"I-I-I-I-I…" Jr. stutterers. "We didn't think it would get this out of hand."

"Exactly. You didn't think."

"Fret not Fox," Sheik exclaims. "We can revive them with the 1-Up Mushrooms among  
many other means of sorcery. All is not lost."

Fox stands up straight and sighs. "Yeah, but that doesn't make it right. Besides,  
there's still the matter of the giant killer dragon-turtle-thing we need to neutralize first." Fox  
swings his pupils towards Jr. who stumbles back and squeals in response. He  
returns to his former hunched over position. "Well, you brats got us into this  
mess so you're gonna have to get us out. Start talking."

Roy scoffs. Fox stands back up and turns to him while Sheik fixes her visible eye  
on him without even subtly moving a muscle.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Fox snarkily asks.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart, space fox," Roy scoffs.

"It's _Star_ Fox, runt but go on."

"Oh, my bad Star Fox runt." Fox snarls but Roy continues as if he said nothing. "But you think we'd be here in this rut if we knew _how_ to stop him?"

"Yeah," Lemmy says. "Because we're cowards."

"Statistically," Larry adds, adjusting his battered glasses with his right index finger. "Cowards are far less likely to pursue dangerous activities."

"Shut up Larry," Roy says. Immediately, he gasps and falls into silence. The Koopalings all look to their sides, distraught.

"Larry..." Wendy sniffles.

Sheik studies the Koopalings behavior. In spite of the malice they have shown they are capable of, they are still children, she thought. Sheik drops her arms to her side and walks over to Wendy. She stops for a moment and crouches to her level, placing her right hand on her left shoulder. Wendy looks up making eye contact, her eyes moist.

"Wendy," Sheik says softly. "What happened to Larry?"

Wendy rubs her eyes with her forearm but in the process contracted dirt in her eyes. She winces, biting her lip as she frantically rubs her eyes with her hand, making the problem worse. Sheik takes off her scarf and places it on the little girl's left cheek. Wendy finds it and begins rubbing her face and eyes with it. After she finishes, she extends her arms to hand it back to Sheik.

"Thank you," she says with residual sadness in her voice. Sheik lightly pushes it back to her.

"Keep it," Sheik responds with a smile. "Now, you were saying?"

She's very pretty, Wendy thought.

Wendy closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

 _When we fell into the lower level, daddy was ready to incinerate us. Lucky for us, the koopa night guards were there to slow him down for us. Unlucky for us, he was mowing them down without breaking a sweat. Even more unlucky, Larry was trapped under a piece of debris from the ceiling. To make things worse, his glasses got knocked off, making him blind as a bat. I can't speak for my brothers, but as much as I wanted to, I didn't have the courage to go back and save him. We all just gawked in terror. Well, all of us except Larry who dashed ahead of us in his clown kart, destroying the debris with twin drills. He picked up Larry with a pulley and tossed him over to Morton._

" _Go!" He told us._

" _B-but what about you?!" Jr. shouted back._

" _Me and the guards'll hold him off for as long as we can!"_

 _Then, daddy landed right behind him, shaking the entire castle. Larry looked at him for a sec then turned back to us. I'll never forget the look on his face at that moment or what he said. It looked like he was angry but scared at the same time. But there was something in his eyes that reassure me for a moment._

" _GO!" He shouted at us. I couldn't help but look back as we ran away. Larry was kicking daddy's ass for a second with a hammer but daddy was too strong. He spat out an immense flame that swallowed up the room...and Larry._

" _LARRY!" Morton screamed._

" _N-no way…" Roy said lowly._

" _W-w-w-w-what's happening?!" Iggy asked. "Someone tell me what's going on!"_

 _The door was a few feet in front of us but the fire was catching up faster than our clown karts could go. We would have been toast if Kamek hadn't teleported us out of the way at the last second. We were about 500 feet away from the castle but from our point of view, strong flames blasted through the castle like knife through butter. Kamek wasn't fast enough to avoid some of the fire and his back was scorched. In seconds, the castle came crashing down, flaming bits spreading across the meadow below it. We were lucky enough to narrowly avoid getting hit. We hid ourselves from daddy as he stomped his way past us._

Wendy wipes her eyes with the scarf in her hand. The rest of the Koopalings bawl. Tears were flowing from behind Roy's shades like a waterfall. He looked to the sky and grit his teeth in a wide frown.

"He had more guts," Morton choked out. "Than all of us put together. He was the real MVP…"

Fox looked to the side feeling a bit of remorse from his earlier convictions.

Damn, he thought. Now I feel bad. _Again._

"This is all that stupid Mario's fault!" Jr. pouted, throwing his arms in front of him.

"Yeah!" Ludwig joined. "He's supposed to be the hero of Mushroom Kingdom! Where the heck was he when we were getting our shells kicked?!"

The other Koopalings joined in a chorus of "Yeah!"

"Now hold on young ones," Sheik intervenes. "Let's not forget that you are all the cause of this catastrophe."

The Koopalings fall silent for a moment.

"If only," Roy begins. "We didn't watch that stupid video...none of this would have happened."

Fox's mouth drops slightly. "Video?" He inquires. "What video?"

"Somebody," Iggy exclaimed. "Sent us a video of the last time dad wrecked havoc in giga mode."

"Who?" Sheik asked.

"It was anonymous."

A brief silence surrounds the troupe.

"Well regardless," Fox says, swinging his arms in the air forming the letter Y with his body. "With Dr, Mario decommissioned, we've got no means of solving our Giga Bowser problem. And that's just great." Fox folds his arms.

"Well," Kamek says weakly, coughing afterwards. "I wouldn't say that exactly…"

Mega Man, draped in scratches and dirt marks, his right eye blinking with static like a TV without reception, is laid stomach down on the ground. Must have blacked out again, he thinks. With an expressionless face, he turns to his left and spots the unconscious body of Donkey Kong with his left arm lazily draped over his torso. His tongue hangs out of his mouth as if he was thirst. Mega Man shifts his attention to Falco and Marth, both littered in bruises and dirt. Falco dashes as fast as he can and double jumps, wielding his own laser gun in his right hand and the Smash laser pistol in his left. He fires blue and green lasers while shouting, diverting Giga Bowser's attention to himself.

Giga Bowser fells needles clawing at his left leg. He turns to Falco, leaving his back wide open to attack. Marth, holding his sword and a laser sword, flips into the air, exchanging swipes with both blades mid flight on Giga Bowser's right rib cage. Giga Bowser looks down at Marth, seemingly shifting his attention. Samus ceases the opportunity and fires a fully charged Plasma Cannon that goes flying, becoming nothing but a purple and green blur. However, with surprising preemptiveness, Giga Bowser takes heed of a sneak attack and does a mighty leap to the left, knocking Princess Peach and Kirby out of the air.

"Impossible!" Samus yells, sweat dripping down her forehead, shifting around and between her eyes.

In the confusion, Giga Bowser grabs Princess Peach while slapping Kirby with his free hand, sending him flying into the bleachers. A large puff of smoke appears with bits of broken seats scattered in the puff of dust.

Giga Bowser brings Princess Peach close to his mouth and grins widely, showing off a display of long, thin needle like teeth wet with drool. Princess Peach winces and closes her eyes, flinching at the smell of charcoal, dead flesh, and burritos. He opens his mouth.

Peach's face freezes. Her pupils slowly dilate as the inside of the demon's mouth becomes a lit in an orange light. In that instance, everything goes silent except for the beating of her heart. She could feel the blood in her veins speeding through every artery of her body. She looks up and gasps, closing her eyes as she takes her final thought.

Mario, she thinks.

As if God Himself answered her prayer, sort of, a blue fist jets down right into Giga Bowser's snout, forcing his jaws shut. He rotates his pupils up. Mega Man slowly descends in front of him, making direct eye contact. Giga Bowser goes for a furious swipe with his left arm but is intercepted by a devastating golden knee, sparking up lighting upon contact. His head flies backward, his claws missing Mega Man by a mile.

Peach continues to fall, unsure whether she was alive or not. All she can see is the blue sky decorated with clouds getting farther away. Before she realizes it, the clouds take the form of white streaks and she is under another set of them. She stares blankly at the sky for a few heartbeats before the sound slowly comes back. She blinks for a few seconds before looking around and makes eye contact with the confident smirk of Sonic the Hedgehog. He sets her down as Mega Man and Captain Falcon land in front of them. Mega Man surrounds himself in four large leaves and runs ahead.

"M'lady," Sonic says.

"Thank you Sonic," Princess Peach replies, dusting herself off. "Thank all of you."

"No thanks needed," Captain Falcon interjects.

"But appreciated," Sonic adds. "Say, you think you could loan us some stuff? I don't think Giga Bower's had his daily intake of veggies."

"Of course," Peach responds, pulling out a turnip with a smiley face before handing it to Sonic. Then she pulls out something else and hands it to Captain Falcon. The two sprint ahead.

"Yo Falcon," Sonic says, jogging at what he would consider a snail's pace with Captain Falcon. "Trade."

"But-" Captain Falcon begins but Sonic refuses to let him finish.

"I've got a plan. Trust me."

The two toss each other their items. Sonic speeds around Giga Bowser too many times to count before skidding to a stop on his right. He jogs in place, slowly turning to his right.

"Hey Google Browser," Sonic shouts as he bends over to spank himself with his left hand. "How many gigabytes does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

"That doesn't even make sense…" Samus notes.

A giant yellow hand forcefully grabs Sonic, bringing him directly to his face. He roars, making Sonic's quills dance in the wind. Sonic looks utterly unimpressed. He squeezes his right hand out, holding a Bomb-Omb rapidly blinking red. Giga Bowser sweats.

"Surprise," Sonic says, winking with his left eye.

A cloud of black and orange covers Giga Bowser's face. A black streak jettisons a few meters before unraveling Sonic flying backwards, his limbs limply dangling in the air. Ike and Falco observe him jet above him

"I'm okay!" Sonic yells. Then he crashes into a section of the bleaches, inducing a puff of smoke and broken sections. "Mostly!"

Ike and Falco run ahead.

"I'm completely convinced Sonic is a masochist," Falco says.

"Maybe," Ike replies. "But a brilliant one. He just gave us all an opening to strike. Probably the best set-up we've had this entire fight. SMASHERS! DON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK!"

Captain Falcon tosses the winking turnip into Giga Bowser's stomach, bringing his head down. He runs as hard as he can before bringing his left arm back behind him, seemingly hovering above the ground. He joins Mega Man for a combined flame covered uppercut, propelling his head along with much of his upper body back up.

Shulk, glowing green, leaps several feet from where he was standing and swipes at Giga Bowser right between the eyes. A black, spiked ball comes crashing down on his head, burying it into the dirt beneath him. Ike runs a few feet, positioning himself in on Giga Bowser's right while Little Mac positions him on the left. Ike charges his Up-Smash, bringing his heavy sword to his left side. He releases after three seconds, making contact with the side of the beast's head at the same time Little Mac fires a KO-Punch on his left, rocketing the beast's heads back up.

"Aw yeah," Shulk proclaims. "We're nailing him!"

In a split second, an enormous yellow blur comes chopping down on Shulk, which launches him up into the air because hit boxes are screwy. Shulk plateaus right above Giga Bowser, who seeks the opportunity to up-smash him with his tremendous shell. After momentary contact and an incredible smack, Shulk grunts as he jettisons into the air. His cry is heard until he becomes a glimmer in the sky.

Giga Bowser looks down at Ike, Falco, and Little Mac, all who seems to have been hit with a stun potion, with indifference.

"So that just happened," Little Mac says.

Giga Bowser leans into Little Mac's face and smiles. Little Mac puts his hands up instinctively as countless drops of sweat dash across his face. His pupils dilate.

"Uh…" Falco says in the form of a question. "Run?"

Giga Bowser roars, sending the hairs/feathers on the three warrior's heads shaking in the wind. Ike squints his right eye while closing his left, holding on to his head band with his left hand.

"Run." Ike concludes as the three of them bowface and dash away, screaming at the top of their lungs.

Ike takes long but slow strides as Falco steadily surpasses him. Little Mac dashes ahead of the two in practically no time.

"Is this how you treat your general?!" Ike shouts as a fireball flies past his left shoulder.

"Self-appointed general!" Falco screams back. "No one elected you!"

"Screw you Falco! At least Mac's got my bac-"

Little Mac is but a spec, only a few meters away from the bleachers. He huffs and puffs as he runs.

"Sorry!" he yells. "Every Mac for himself!"

"BASTAAAAAARD!" Ike shouts back as a fireball goes right over his head.

"Hey, you can't blame him," Falco responds. "He's got the right idea!"

Falco's pace slightly picks up, noticeably increasing the gap between him and Ike.

"Go to hell!" Ike yells belligerently, shaking his his sword at him.

"Already there pal!"

A fireball finally hits Ike from behind. He grunts as he is launched directly into Falco, sending the two of them rolling for a few feet. Falco is pinned under Ike's stomach, his head right under his left arm pit.

"Geez," Falco complains. "Have you ever heard of deodorant?"

"A true warrior," Ike says weakly. "Takes great pride in his natural musk."

"Get offa me." Falco does a push-up and turns his body only to be pinned back down by Ike's weight. He struggles to lift Ike, mostly due to a lack of adequate leverage.

Giga Bowser stands six feet away from them. Ike and Falco stare at him with period sized pupils. Giga Bowser drops his jaw and expels a chain of brilliant flames. Ike and Falco scream as their sight turns to orange.

"Oh noooooo," Little Mac says pleadingly, barely audible from where he took cover behind a broken section of seats.

"Fools," a deep and somewhat Spanish sounding voice says.

In an instant, the orange light cast by the flames is blocked by an endless void of blackness. In the span of a heartbeat, Ike and Falco are right between Little Mac and Princess Peach. They regain their sense of reality and look around to see where they are. They look at Little Mac who responds with a nervous smiles.

Meanwhile, Giga Bowser observes his immediate surroundings for his prey. He cocks his head back and clenches his arms, roaring at the sky. With his guard down, a spiked ball with two angry eyes hits him in the gut, making him hunch forward in pain. Winded, he sets his sights on a platoon of six Waddle Dees, one wearing a blue bandana, and the jolly King Dedede. He smirks, patting his belly twice with his fist, hammer resting on his right collarbone. Mario takes his fighting pose while Luigi puts both hands up like he's about to perform a dual karate chop.

"If you've got time to talk," Meta Knight says, gathering the attention of the four of them. "You've got time to fight."


	10. Chapter 10

The stadium quakes as Giga Bowser takes a step closer to his prey. DeDeDe and Mario maintain stationary positions, readying themselves for battle. Luigi tries his hardest to stand his ground, however anyone can see him shaking from a mile away as if he desperately needed to use the bathroom. Giga Bowser roars as fire spews out of his mouth and falls behind him, giving it the impression of a meteor. He brings his right claw down like a guillotine, leaving nothing but a crater of dirt and grass.

Mario was in the air before he striked. DeDeDe jumps on his snout, covering the beast's eyes and nostrils. Luigi clumsily jumps to the left to avoid getting smashed. DeDeDe pulls hard on Giga Bowser's eyebrows, making him wring his head back in pain. His left arm rises at an alarming speed. However, his palm gets acquainted with his face as DeDeDe super jumps out of the way a split second earlier.

The Mario Bros. sprinted several yards amidst the chaos. Mario dashes ahead of Luigi, delivering his signature Super Jump Punch. His fist grinds across Giga Bowser's belly, sparking a trail of golden coins.

At the peak of his jump, Luigi, using his brother as a footstool, propels himself towards the behemoth's chin. Inches from the massive jaw above him, Luigi, in spite of his adrenaline in his body telling him to run away, flexes his left arm, transferring every fiber of strength into it. As soon as his knuckles makes contact, he extends, releasing his true might.

An orange cloud covers the towering creature, his entire body suspended in midair like a fish caught on bait. He lands on his feet, imbalanced, causing a devastating shock wave that spreads across the interior of the stadium. Meta Knight stands unfettered as his cape rustles in the air. Mario flies a few feet before flipping himself into an upright position. He leans forward against the wind, holding himself down with sheer tenacity. Strength too, but that's not as poetic.

"Should have eaten your greens," Luigi says triumphantly as he descends head first towards the ground.

Mario facepalms.

"Mama mia," he says. "You said you wouldn't say that. You promised."

The wind subsides. Meta Knight's cape turn into a pair of bat wings and he dashes ahead. Giga Bowser makes a quick recovery, grabbing an airborne DeDeDe by the foot. He tosses him into Mario, sending both of them crashing past Ike, who was standing behind a broken section of the bleachers. Luigi is backhanded towards the left, sending him flying like a bullet. He disappears into a gray cloud of debris.

Meta Knight swiftly slashes Giga Bowser's left foot more times than he can count. The behemoth lifts it up and brings it crashing down, causing another shockwave. However, Meta Knight rode atop the foot, jumping off before its descent. Giant claws slash at the after images of the swift knight who manages to get in several swipes of his own at Giga Bowser's snout. He brings his head back yet again. Then, he suddenly launches it forward, sending Meta Knight skidding against the ground until he slides next to Little Mac.

"So I know I was talking shit earlier, _but…_ " he begins. He is cut off by a devastating roar that makes Little Mac and Falco cover their ears.

"Jeezus!" Falco exclaims.

"I like how I said 'go fight' and yet here you are, not doing that."

"It's called a tactical retreat," Ike interjects.

"It's called being a pussy. And if you don't help us out then just like pussies, we're gonna be-"

Meta Knight is cut off by massive shadow. Giga Bowser looms over his prey with eyes reminiscent of a child looking at his favorite toys.

"...fucked."

"Guys," Mac says. "Is shitting myself in any way an appropriate response to our current predicament?"

"Yes," Ike responds without taking a second to think it through.

"No," Meta Knight saysat the same time.

A trail of flames fly towards the group. Falco sighs as he kicks up his reflector shield.

"Go team," he says sarcastically.

Marth observes the scene before him from the other side of the stadium. He pants with each passing second. Sonic dashes past him and spin jumps into the air, hitting Giga Bowser directly on the top of his skull with his famous homing attack. Mega Man follows, albeit much slower carrying a buzzsaw in each hand.

 _This is bad,_ Marth thinks. He places his left hand on the side of his head as if to mend a headache.

Within the abyss that is the Central Smash Framework, the astral projection of Mewtwo's senses flare up. Ness and Zelda don't notice and continue forcing a sea of items across the seemingly endless void.

 _What is it Marth?_ Mewtwo inqures.

 _Mewtwo, we're in deep,_ Marth frantically responds. _We can't- DK_ look out!

Silence.

 _Marth? Marth?!_

 _...DK has been defeated. Look-listen. We cannot, I repeat,_ cannot _hold out much longer. We've been fighting Giga Bowser for nearly twenty minutes. We can hurt him we're not strong enough to leave a lasting impression._

 _Dammit Marth, what the hell do you want me to do about that?!_

Mewtwo also said that outloud. His distraught voice masks his frustration. Ness turns his head slightly to the left. Zelda's right eye points at Mewtwo.

 _Calm down. Have you found a way to deliver multiple Super Mushroo-_

 _No. But Zelda says she's working on that. You all need to hold off Giga Bowser for a few minutes longer until Sheik and Fox show up. Ten max._

 _Mewtwo,_ we don't have a few minutes. _He's effortlessly mowing through us and we're barely keeping pace with him. But that's not why I'm contacting you. I propose a solution, if only temporary. Send us a Smash Ball._

Mewtwo's voice grows harsh. _Marth, we can barely control which items you get. What makes you think we can can forcefully send one?_

 _I believe in you._

 _I'm not a Fairy type you dolt._

 _Mewtwo, our friends are dying. If Giga Bowser destroys us all, many worlds will be left defenseless. Let me reiterate: the fate of many worlds rests on our shoulders. All I'm asking of you is to try._

Zelda and Ness stare at Mewtwo. He sighs.

 _We'll send a few precautionary items an assist trophy that will buy you some time. I'm not making any promises._

Marth sounds relieved.

 _All I need is some effort. Good luck my friend._

 _Whatever._

Mewtwo looks at Ness and Zelda.

"I take it you two caught all that?" he inquires.

"Call it curiosity," Ness responds.

"In any other instance, this eavesdropping would be met with swift punishment."

"If you've got time to joke," Zelda adds. "You've got time to work."

"Apologies," Mewtwo says.

"Well, _excuuuuuuuse me-_ " Ness begins but cuts himself off at the sight of two soul penetrating scowls.

"Uh, Mewtwo, you want to lead the course or…?"

"Not that it matters but, all together now."

Mewtwo, Zelda, and Ness close their eyes and let their hands fall to their sides. An bright, blue aura surrounds them. It shoots up and bursts like a newly lit fire.

Samus strides across a meadow sparsely lit with flames. Her arm cannon shines. Sonic darts right past her followed by Captain Falcon. Marth swiftly out paces her before Ike blazes past her, seemingly flying. A glowing Mega Man eventually outruns Samus as well.

In his left hand, Giga Bowser holds King DeDeDe with Meta Knight wedged beneath his right foot. His roar is strong enough to shake the ground.

A blue blur curves into Giga Bowser's left elbow, weakening his grip enough for DeDeDe to Super Jump to safety. Captain Falcon leaps into the air and does backflip, nailing the beast in the chin with his right foot. Marth thrusts his sword into the foot pinning down Meta Knight, making it shoot up instantly. Ike comes crashing in with his Quick Draw, slashing Giga Bowser's other foot. He topples over, kicking up a dust cloud. The horns on his shell paste him into the ground. Meta Knight teleports a few meters away from the action.

Mega Man and Samus both jump a few feet above his navel with a considerable gap between them, aiming their arm cannons downward. DeDeDe comes crashing down between them as they release their energy blasts. The three fold attack hits Giga Bowser in the center of his stomach. The sound of something smacking against flesh fills the stadium, as does a huge cloud of dust. DeDeDe launches himself into the air to prepare for a follow up attack. Samus curls into a morph ball and leaves several bombs in place. Mega Man jumps into the air and aim fires a rocket fist back down, filling the stadium with a another smack.

Giga Bowser wiggles back and forth only barely moving himself any closer out of the ground than he was before moving. Sonic chuckles upon observation. Ike throws a lectorial glance at him.

"What's so funny?" he inquires.

Sonic speaks without looking at him, smirking.

"You ever see those Life-Alert commercials? You know, the ones where there's an old lady on the ground who says 'I've fawlan and I cawn't get up!'"

"You think seniority is a laughing matter?"

"Wow. Has a sense of humor been invented where you're from?"

"Everyone ages. One day, you'll be a husk of your former self too."

"Me? Oh, no siree. With my crazy workout regimen I'll be fit well into my 90s."

Giga Bowser roars, spewing fire into the air. DeDeDe quickly dodges it and floats out of his range. Mega Man and Samus continue their assault.

"Oh really?" Ike inquires as he twirls his sword with his dominant hand, resting it on his back. "You sure that isn't your ego doing the talking?"

"Eh," Sonic nonchalantly replies with his arms extended in front of him, cracking his fingers. "Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, we'll see _after_ we kick lizard breath's spiked butt."

Ike chuckles. "Hhpm. I guess we shall."

"Race ya to the top!"

Sonic bolts ahead and in the literal blink of an eye is feet above Giga Bowser's stomach. He is joined in mid air with Captain Falcon who folds his right leg back.

"Falcon…" he begins. He is cut short by the weight of a ten ton creature's stomach. He and Sonic are sent flying through the air past Ike, grinding against the ground until they slow to a stop. They are covered in a hill of dirt. Samus and Mega Man are swept into the air with the creature.

 _Wha…_ Samus thinks. _What happened…? How did we end up here?_

Samus looks in front of her and sees a light blue sky filled with clouds. Then she turns to her left to see Mega Man seemingly looking up into oblivion. Her musings are interrupted by an enormous rear crashing down on them. Samus sees the pain on the expression of the robot's face. Then she looks down and sees the stadium getting closer. A blue light catches her attention.

Samus' pupils dilate. Mega Man's charging Mega Buster is aimed right at her.

 _What are you…?_ She thinks.

Samus can practically feel an electric impulse throughout her body as she pieces together the blue boy's plan. She struggles in vain to force her arm cannon in a proper position. Mega Man smiles sorrowfully as he reaches full power.

"No…" Samus quietly pleads.

"Thank goodness for team attack," Mega Man says with a smile and tears in his eyes.

"Mega Man, DON-"

A large white sphere with a tint of blue smacks Samus head on. She is launched horizontally, rolling to a stop between Ike and Marth. A cloud of dust engulfs her sight. When her vision returns, she notices her plasma whip lay extended on the ground. She redirects her gaze on a swarm of ascending blue orbs. She observes the many lights as they merge with the sky as if she were unable to gaze elsewhere.

"Megs…" Sonic solemnly says, leaving his jaw hanging slightly.

Ike clicks his teeth and squeezes the heavy blade in his right hand.

"BASTAAAAAAAARRRRD!" the mercenary shouts as he sprints towards with his pupils dilated. The corners of his eyes are decorated in red veins and are opened as far as possible.

Giga Bowser looks down with half open eyes disinterested at the comparatively tiny speck heading his way. A few feet away from him, Ike leaps into the air with his sword hoisted over his head, airing all of his rage with a shout.

Giga Bowser swings the back of his right arm. A powerful gust of wind follows him. However, he noticed a distinct lack of impact. Stunned at the gap in logic, he does not anticipate a spinning blue sphere rolling his way. He is struck in the gut and met with a knee by Captain Falcon across his right cheek.

Ike swings his sword forward, swiping nothing but air. He lands, surprised that he is now several meters away from his target. He looks to his left and makes eye contact with Princess Peach, Little Mac to her right. He shifts his view to Sonic and Captain Falcon avoiding a barrage of claw swipes. He takes a step forward but nearly falls backwards. _It appears my cape is trying to strangle me,_ he thinks. He turns his upper body back, tilting his head downward. He can't tell by looking at his mask but Meta Knight is immensely irritated. Ike turns back around with a very annoyed expression.

"Shut up," he says coldly.

"If this were a suicide mission," Meta Knight begins.

"Shut up."

"You'd be just the man to lead."

"Shut up."

"But it's not."

"Shut up."

"So get your act together…"

"Shut up."

"And start actually thinking…"

"Shut up."

"Before we lose our other supposed leader..."

"Shut up."

"And half our chances of defeating this monstrosity."

"Shut up."

" _You shut up._ "

Marth walks up to Ike.

" _How about you both shut the fuck up?_ " he harshly says.

Sonic and Captain Falon land a few feet away from Giga Bowser. He slowly turns his head towards the two.

"Oh no," Captain Falcon gasps. "He can take a The Knee of Justice without receiving any damage!"

"Has your grammar been nerfed?" Sonic inquires without shifting his sight from the foe before him.

Captain Falcon turns to Sonic and frantically raises his voice.

"You're missing the point! Everytime he defeats someone, he becomes more powerful."

Giga Bowser crouches and takes swipes at the two. Sonic jumps into the air as Captain Falcon backflips out of the way.

"My The Knee of Justice has one of the best knock backs in all of Smash and it barely made him flinch. Heck, it looked like it annoyed him more than anything!"

Giga Bowser retreats into his shell and starts rapidly spinning towards the two. Clumps of dirt and grass fly into the air, turning into large blocks of ice. One flies right above Captain Falcon with Giga Bowser closing in at an alarming pace. Sonic sweeps in sliding under an incoming ice pick, tripping Captain Falcon and forcing him into his arms. He speeds ahead, stopping between Ike and Meta Knight in seconds. He lets Captain Falcon down.

"Cap," Sonic says. "If you;ve got a point to make, do it now. And fast."

Giga Bowser comes out of his shell. He sees his prey is now far out of his grasp. He takes a step forward but is acquainted with a speeding green missile making contact with his right cheek. He slashes the smoke away with his left arm as if he were swatting at flies. He sees Samus charging her plasma cannon. Before he can make his next move, Luigi comes crashing from the sky, delivering a downward elbow to the base of the creature's skull. Giga Bowser moves his head down about a foot.

Luigi does a quadruple backflip before landing a few meters to the left of Giga Bowser, out of striking range. Giga Bowser rubs the back of his head with his left arm and looks up, confused. He felt as if someone dropped a coin on his head from atop of a fifty foot castle. Luigi remains on his left foot and right knee for a few seconds, looking down at the ground. Then he looks up, grabs his left elbow and inhales. Finally, he rolls over to the ground and curls his body. He hisses for five seconds before exhaling. Mario facepalms again.

"Giga Bowser becomes more powerful and more durable with each fighter he defeats," Captain Falcon quickly says. "Grunts or foot soldiers don't seem to have much of an effect him but but if he defeats a character like DK or Yoshi, his power spikes significantly. We've reached a point where attacks with high knock back such as my The Knee of Justice have minimal affect."

Silence consumes the immediate area where the fighters are gathered. The sounds of explosions and lasers flying echo from the background.

"Meaning," Marth adds with a grave tone. "We're almost out of time. With Mega Man's defeat, he's reached a whole new level of power that we can't even begin to contain."

Little Mac and Peach have discouraged looks on their faces as they stare at the ground. Sonic looks at Marth disapprovingly. Captain Falcon joins as he folds his arms.

"Way to keep up our morale team leader," Sonic sarcastically remarks.

Samus fires a slow purple missile at Giga Bowser. He looks offended that she thought he could hit him with that. However, a full powered Charge Shot rips right through it. Alarmed, Giga Bowser dodges with surprising speed, sending it into the other side of the bleachers. Interestingly enough, there is no explosions when it reaches there.

"Let me finish," Marth continues. He wipes off a stream of sweat running down the side of his cheek with his free arm. "Moments ago, I made contact with Mewtwo requesting assistance. We should be getting a few more items that will aid us in or objective in containing a Smash Ball."

King DeDeDe floats several feet above the the group. He drops, landing face first right next to a visibly distraught Little Mac. DeDeDe is covered in burns and charcoal. He looks up at Marth, irritated and tired. Peach rubs his shoulder and gives him a sympathetic look. Cartoon hearts appear in his eyes.

Falco yells, running up to Giga Bowser as he fires both his laser pistols in succession. He flips over and incoming tail swipe and circles around Giga Bowser's left..

"THE HELL YA'LL TALKIN' BOUT?!" he angrily shouts as he continues his assault.

Samus charges another attack. Giga Bowser lunges towards her. Samus halts charging and steps to the left but Giga Bowser is already about eight feet away from her. He raises both of his arms above his head and growls. As his shadow eclipses her, Samus realizes she is within his range. Additionally, she knows she isn't fast enough to get to avoid the upcoming attack.

 _Good,_ she thinks.

A full powered Charge Shot hits the back of Giga Bowser's head, stunning him and bring his chin close enough for Samus to follow up with a Screw Attack. The skin on his jaw appears somewhat rustled as Samus grinds on it. Sonic observed the whole thing while trailing off during Marth's speech.

"Wish I could do that," Sonic says insincerely.

"Focus," Ike commands him.

Sonic turns back around like a student caught by a teacher doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"Telling me what to do…" he snickers under his breath.

"The plan," Marth continues. "Is to use the Smash Ball to achieve a super transformation and fight Giga Bowser toe-to-toe. A Final Smash that's an attack has the possibility of missing and might not be strong enough or last long enough to deal the finishing blow. Additionally, we've all taken considerable damage. We might not be able to get close enough to him before he dispatches one of us. Sonic, Little Mac Falco, and if Fox he shows up are the only ones here who have transformations. I don't care who but know this: You _must_ defeat him before the transformation runs out. This is our greatest chance of success for the time being. I don't need to go over what could happen should we fail."

Sonic chuckles and pulls down on his right glove.

"Of course you don't," he confidently says. "Cuz' we're not gonna fail."

Ike smirks and stands up, swinging his sword over his back.

"I heard that," he says with a smile, looking at Giga Bowser with a look of determination in his eyes.

Meta Knight grunts.

"For once, we agree on something." he says.

Captain Falcon stands tall, his right arm clenched as fire surrounds it.

"Together, we shall triumph over this adversary and-"

Falco crashes into a wall behind Marth. He doesn't flinch but the rest of the fighters are startled. DeDeDe jumps into Peach's arms. Her face turns red with exhaust. Falco slowly slides down from the wall until he sits on the ground.

"Ah, Falco," Marth says jubilantly says. "So nice of you to join us."

Falco tired eyes roll over to Marth. He didn't have the energy to yell.

"Gentlemen, Peach," Marth continues. "It's do or die. We've got about five minutes until the Smash Ball shows up. This goes without saying but if you see an assist trophy or a Stopwatch, grab them immediately. They are invaluable assets."

With clear goals set before them, everyone in the group prepares to face the coming storm.

"Wait," Little Mac says, forcing everyone's attention on him. "Now when you say five minutes…"

There are mixed groans in anticipation for the question.

"Now, now hear me out because this is super important...When you say five minutes, do you mean five _real_ minutes? As in three-hundred seconds? Or do you mean Goku vs Freiza five minutes?"

Various looks of intrigue and nods are exchanged among the group.

"That…" Ike says. "Is actually a very good point.

Marth stares blankly at Mac for a few seconds. Then he smiles.

"Yes," he finally responds.

"Oh my God," Peach silently says.

Meta Knight squints and groans.

"Quit screwing around," Ike demands.

"Blue Falcon's ghost," Captain Falcon says.

"I ain't dead," Falco responds, looking at Captain Falcon.

"Dynomutt's dingus," Sonic says.

Everyone looks at Sonic with puzzlement.

"Oh…" he nervously says. "I thought we were...um…still doing the uh...thing were we uh...say our version of...OMG…"

Suddenly, his voice sounds over enthusiastic.

"Hey, let's go stomp us some deranged, dragon-turtle butt, ay?"

With that Sonic runs back into the fray, viciously circling around Giga Bowser, lifting a few blocks of ice in the air. Mario floats towards one of them and from there hops from one to another until he is right in front of Giga Bowser's face. Flame engulfs his right hand as he swings it down at the behemoth's forehead.

"Dammit Sonic," Ike shouts as he dashes towards the scene. "Don't recklessly charge in!"

"Hypocrite," Meta Knight says as he flies past him.

"Shut up."

"Not again," Peach complains.

"I will stab both of you right now," Marth remarks.

"Guys, I think I actually shit myself," Little Mac says to no one in particular.

"FOR SMASSSSSH!" Captain Falcon shouts as he sprints ahead.

"I hate you all," Falco says bluntly.


	11. Chapter 11

Toon Link's stubby legs bounce off the ground in rapid succession across a field of greenery. Following meters behind is Willard and even further is Duke, red in the face and heavily swinging his arms.

"Aye," Duke pants. "You think you lads could slow it down there a bit?"

"Hardly," Willard replies looking back, exasperated. "This isn't the time… to be slacking off. Fate of the something or other at stake...remember?"

"All this running's bad for me back."

"That might turn around if you fix that posture of your-oof!"

Willard stumbles into Toon Link who doesn't appear to be fazed. His focus is hundreds of meters away at a smoke cloud protruding from the inside of a war torn stadium. He turns his head to look at Willard who returns the glance. Silently agreeing with each other, the two of them sprint ahead towards their possible final destination.

"Ah, DAMMIT GUYS!" Duke shouts as he huffs and puffs to keep up with the them.

Rays of sunlight relentlessly assault the forehead of Marth as he pants. His entire torso shifts up and down with each breath. A drop of sweat sprawls onto his right eye. The burning sensation forces it shut. He sees an immobile Donkey Kong spread across the ground a few feet away from him. His head rests on the lap of a battered Princess Peach who is slaps him lightly several times in order to wake him up. To her left lays Meta Knight, face down with his arms spread out. His sword sticks firmly into the ground on his left.

A fireball swiftly heads in their direction. Peach only has enough time to turn around with a worried expression on her face.

Mario flips into the scene, landing in front of her. He pulls a yellow cape out of nowhere and with all his might, swings into the burning ball of death approaching him. His left foot digs into the ground as he slides it outward. The ball of flames clashes with the cape briefly only to do a complete 180. Giga Bowser propels himself to the right with one foot. He was several meters away from the fireball by the time it reached his previous position. Mario grunts and grits his teeth.

Ike forces himself up using his sword for stability. Marth stands three feet to his left.

"He's getting faster," he silently notes.

A bruised Sonic stands up and pats his head with his right hand causing some dirt to fall off.

"Not fast enough," he replies before charging ahead. Ike pursues at a much slower pace followed by Captain Falcon.

A blue ring surrounds Giga Bowser's legs as dust and blades of grass rise. Ike and Captain Falcon jump into the air.

"Falcon…" Captain Falcon cocks his flame covered fist as Ike wrings his sword above his head with both arms. Giga Bowser stomps forward, causing Sonic to bounce over his foot and flail in the air for several yards. Then he headbutts Captain Falcon and Ike, sending them both grinding into the ground.

Sonic does a backflip before sliding across a patch of grass. He observes Little Mac delivering a fully charged right hook into Giga Bowser's gut. Giga Bowser doesn't flinch and effortlessly swats him out of Sonic's line of sight. Falco lays a few feet to his right on his stomach, gaging in pain.

Sonic pants, wipes his forehead with the back of his right hand and dashes ahead.

From a distance, Marth balls up his left fist and places it under his lip. He squints.

 _Sonic is slowing down_ , he thinks. _Our fastest and most durable player is slowing down. Going off of that, everyone else must be low on stamina too. As time goes on, we seem to be making less of an impression on Giga Bowser. At this rate, it's only a matter of_ when _he'll outlast us._

Giga Bowser slaps away Mario with the back of his right hand. Then he crouches, sinking his head and limbs into his shell and twirls at high speeds. Marth uses his Counter, however his attack proved ineffective and he is swept up in a barrage of blows. He grunts as he is hurdled into the air as a frozen block of ice. Before he hits the ground, Giga Bowser's tail sinks into the ice, hurdling Marth across the stadium before he rolls onto the grass. He digs his sword into the ground to stop himself from rolling any further. However, Giga Bowser has already closed the the gap between them.

 _Oh shi-_

Before Marth can finish that thought, Captain Falcon delivers a flame fueled uppercut into Giga Bowser's side, making him slide a bit. Giga Bowser's face shows no signs of distress. His eyes swing to the right. Captain Falcon extends his left arm, pointing at the uninterested beast.

"As long as there's a will in the people," he passionately says. "There's a way to victory. As long as flames of righteousness burn deep within the hearts of these fighters, no force of evil will can stop us. Do you hear me demon?! You. Will. Lose."

Giga Bowser snarls and turns his body to fully face Captain Falcon. Steam shoots out of his nose as he exhales.

Falco sucks his teeth.

"Where does this asshole get the gall to say things like that?" he scolds under his breath.

Captain Falcon stands up straight and signals a thumbs up and a smile towards the fatigued blue falcon.

"Because," he begins. "I have the heart of a falcon!"

With his guard seemingly down, Giga Bowser takes the opportunity to rush over to his prey. He swings his right arm in front of him. However, all that is in front of him is a patch of grass.

"Falcon Kick!"

From above, Captain Falcon crashes onto the side of Giga Bowser's head, landing right beneath him. Giga Bowser throws out his right leg but again misses as Captain Falcon jumps backwards, kicking off from his left leg. Giga Bowser roars, throwing both arms into the air as he drops forward. Captain Falcon performs three consecutive backflips to avoid collision with the belly of the beast. Giga Bowser violently swings his claws several times but at that point, Captain Falcon has already back flipped into the air and out of his range. Giga Bowser slams his fists into the ground, causing a small tremor. Then, he retreats into his shell and starts rapidly spinning forward. Captain Falcon strides ahead to safety.

Falco observes the scene, laid out on the ground several feet away. He clenches his fists using what little strength he has left. His eyes narrow while he sucks his teeth. Then he closes them and lets out a long sigh.

"Dammit," he calmly whispers to himself. With his left hand still balled up and his right palm against the ground, Falco slowly rises off of the ground before straining onto his feet.

"He's the absolute last guy I want lecturing me."

Falco walks for a few feet before slowly transitioning into a jog. Then in seconds he is running at full speed. Using every fiber of strength left in his arsenal he kicks off of the ground, flipping above Giga Bowser. His body rotates as he thrusts his legs downward, knocking Giga Bowser's head down a bit.

After Falco lands, he swings his right leg forward, sinking into Giga Bowser's cheek. Then he does the same with his left and recreates the same effect. He thrust his right foot into the space between Giga Bowser's eyes. Then, he does a backflip while sinking his left shin into Giga Bowser's jaw, propelling him upward about three feet. He stands erect and looks down onto a proud Falco.

"Now that," he proudly proclaims. "Is a Falcon Ki-"

Giga Bowser's left fist slams into Falco, removing him from sight. The fist uncurls and picks up a motionless Falco, slowly lifting him. Falco dangles in the air.

Captain Falcon comes dashing towards the beast. Diving into the air, he cocks his fist back as a flame falcon forms beside it.

"Let him go-urk!" he yells. However, he is cut off by a passive swat from Giga Bowser's free hand.

He throws the helpless Falco into the air and thrusts his shell upwards. A blue streak soars through the sky. To his frustration, Giga Bowser feels nothing yet again.

Falco slowly opens his eyes and is met with a blurry scene of orange and blue figures colliding. When his eyes regain proper focus, he sees Samus charging up a blast with Marth swinging his sword downward at Giga Bowser's abdomen. He is met with a blast of water from F.L.U.D.D as Ike throws a blast box, engulfing Giga Bowser in an orange cloud. Seconds later he steps through the cloud with his arms above himself and delivers and all too familiar roar.

Falco groans.

"Hey," Sonic says while hoisting Falco's right arm over his shoulders. "Didn't Meta Knight beat the whole 'Don't get cocky' thing into your feathered brain enough already?"

Falco ignores the urge to tell Sonic to shut up in favor of staggering forward. However, he is restrained.

"Yeah, no. In the state you're in, you're a walking corpse. No offense, but you'd be better off on the bench then as a combo meal."

Sonic carries Falco in his arms to a section in the first of the bleachers in under a second. Falco's eyes widen as he take heed at the sudden change in scenery. Sonic gently lays him down.

"Even with eyes bigger than your average anime moe, Giga Bowser won't notice you over here and he'll be too distracted dealing with us to try anyway. Just sit tight and stay out of the way until you recovered a bit of your strength."

Sonic wags his index finger and reveals a confident smile.

"Don't worry. Sonic and Friends will save the day."

Sonic turns around.

"Bas...tard…" Falco squeezes out. But Sonic is already preparing a Homing Attack inches away from Giga Bowser's skull.

 _Okay,_ Falco thinks. _I was wrong._ That _is the last guy I want to be lectured by._

Sonic bounces off of the right side of Giga Bowser's head and flips into a landing several feet in front of him. Giga Bowser throws a right punch at him but Sonic effortlessly leaps over his fist, dashing up his forearm, culminating in a Spin Attack to the snout that sends him bouncing backwards. An ocean of flames shoots towards Sonic who responds by quickly hopping to the right. To his surprise, the trail of fire follows him. Sonic turns forward shifts into a sprint with his arms hanging behind him, curving into Giga Bowser. Sonic slides under the space between his legs, leading into a very sensitive area. He roars at the sky as he grabs said area and frantically hops around on each foot. Sonic reveals a sly grin.

"I know," he shouts using his hands on the sides of his mouth. "Just 'cause nothing's there doesn't mean it won't hurt!"

Giga Bowser turns around baring his fangs and forming a V shape with his eyebrows.

Sonic's grin widens slightly. He dashes forward, picking up a standard Poké Ball. Giga Bowser leaps into the air to deliver another Ground Pound. He misses but a devastating shock wave spreads across the arena. However, it is no match for Sonic's speed as he easily outpaces it. He slides into a halt before tossing the Poké Ball forward. It ricochets off of Giga Bowser's lower abdomen. Sonic snickers.

"Hope you're ready for what's next," Sonic begins. "'Cause this guy right here might shake you up-"

A Goldeen materializes and flops around helplessly.

"...a bit…"

Giga Bowser looks at the Goldeen. In response, it spasms harder. Giga Bowser turns his attention towards Sonic. An awkward smile smile appears across the blue hedgehog's mouth.

"Uh…"

The Goldeen disappears in a flash of light.

"So, do I like pay you now or…"

Giga Bowser roars.

Ike struts towards the beast to aid his friend while Marth trails along behind him. His attention is diverted to a shining blue light. His mouth drops and his eyes widen as he pieces together what it is. He stops running while Marth surpasses him, looking back for a moment but not stopping. Ike points at the floating object with his sword.

"Smash Ball!" he yells at the top of his lungs. Everybody on the field looks at Ike before shifting their gaze to where he is pointing.

Sonic speeds towards the Smash Ball with determination in his eyes. However, Giga Bowser's left hand shoots out to grab him. Samus fires a full powered Charge Shot but Giga Bowser interrupts its course by jumping in the way. The attack collides with his shell but doesn't seem to be bothered in the slightest. The Smash Ball starts floating towards the left.

Princess Peach throws a Bomb-Omb, blowing up on Giga Bowser's shell but to no effect. Kirby takes aim, preparing to fire a full powered Charge Shot. He is about to fire but stops to assess the situation and moves his arm cannon slightly to the left. He shoots an energy ball and it flies right past Giga Bowser's left, smacking the Smash Ball.

"Nice!" Ike yells while bringing his sword under his left armpit in preparation for a Quick Draw.

"No…" Marth says under his breath. "It goes both ways. That might make it easier for him to break too assuming he wasn't already strong enough to smash it in one go."

Ike quickly closes the gap between him and Giga Bowser using his Quick Draw. He however runs straight into Giga Bowser's massive tail and knocking him right past Marth.

Captain Falcon makes a desperate pursuit after the dashing Giga Bowser.

"Shoot!" he shouts. "Not gonna make it!"

Marth bites his lip. His heart rate skyrockets past the point of comfort. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion.

 _Shit,_ he thinks. _I'm too far to attack. Princess Peach as well. Mario and Luigi are too fatigued to do anything. Donkey Kong, King DeDeDe, and Meta Knight are unconscious. Falco is M.I.A. Samus and Kirby can't charge their energy attacks fast enough to make a difference. Regardless, a full powered Charge Shot has no visible effect on Giga Bowser. Captain Falcon isn't fast enough to catch up. Sonic can't escape Giga Bowser's steel grip. There's no telling what would happen if that monster breaks the Smash Ball. Regardless, if Sonic doesn't... no, if none of us can manage to break it, we lose._

Giga Bowser is mere feet away from the Smash Ball. His right claw appears to be slowly approaching it. Sonic desperately shakes his upper body in all Marth, every passing second was made all the more painful with his lowered perception of time. His brow scrunches as if to hold back tears.

 _Dammit! Only a miracle can save us now!_

Giga Bowser detects something in his peripheral vision. His pupils shift to his right. A turquoise bomb is inches away from his cheek. It connects, emitting a crudely depicted cloud of smoke which blocks his vision. His right claw swoops right under the Smash Ball, now floating towards the left. He stumbles forward, swinging the arm holding Sonic forward as well.

Marth's face loses color. He traces the directory of the bomb towards a scowling blonde, cat eyed boy with a pointy green cap.

Toon Link shouts something unintelligible.

Something zips past Marth, making erect his back. Marth squints. Little Mac speeds leaps as high as he can into the air before performing another jump towards the Smash Ball. However, his low jumping power prevents him from reaching it, placing him directly under it. Giga Bowser's left eye moves out of the smoke. He turns around while swinging his left arm towards Little Mac. The small boxer performs a Rising Uppercut, sending his body spiraling upwards. Giga Bowser's claw narrowly misses the tip of Little Mac's boot.

The Smash Ball breaks. The the environment's colors slightly fade. Little Mac descends menacingly staring at a distraught Giga Bowser whose mouth hangs open, making eye contact with him.

"No air game," he rebukes. Little Mac turns into a yellow light for a few seconds. When the light subsides he emerges a hulking, shirtless figure with a caveman like face.

"No problem."

There is a section of Castle Siege that houses a library. In there, several opened and closed books lay scattered across the floor. A few float in the air surrounding Robin as he scans them with his right palm covering his mouth. He he brings four books closer to him as he squints. He stares for several seconds before waving his right hand and turning a page on each book simultaneously. His eyes shoot wide open.

In the endless sea of space known as the Central Framework of Smash, Mewtwo, Ness, and Zelda uses all of their psychic power to deliver a steady flow of items to the battlefield. A task such as that requires intense concentration.

 _MEWTWO,_ Robin's voice rings. _HOLY FUCK._

Mewtwo's eyes shoot open. He then places his left hand on his forehead.

 _Robin,_ he replies sounding exhausted. _I swear to Arceus, you'll be eating cereal through a straw for the rest of your life if this isn't important._

 _Well lucky for you, I've got some of the most important news you'll hear today._


	12. Chapter 12

A massive green fist sinks into Giga Bowser's stomach. His jaw falls open as he makes a silent gasp. Another fist connects with his jaw, sending his head right back up. Giga Bowser stumbles backwards. His grip on Sonic loosens, allowing him to descend on to the ground.

"I'm outta here," he says as he runs off.

Giga Bowser grits his teeth and roars at the speeding hedgehog. But he is interrupted by another punch to his left cheek. Giga Mac shifts his feet back and forth in a taunting manner. He stands at Giga Bowser's chest but fighting bigger opponents has never been something he has shied away from.

Sonic skids to a halt in front of the rest of his allies.

"Mac's kicking his shell!" Sonic exclaims.

"But…" Marth begins.

"Why 'but?' I don't like buts. Well, not these kinds anyway."

"Giga Mac's will barely last a minute. And while he's able to hurt him, he's still not doing enough damage to guarantee a defeat. At this pace, he'll only be able to slow him down, only adding to his rage after Mac reverts back to his normal form."

A tremor shakes the stadium. The combatants observe the clash between the two behemoths. Giga Bowser slashes Giga Mac's left cheek. However, he recovers fast and delivers an earth shaking straight punch into his snout. Toon Link looks on in despair.

"Then…" Willard says with distraught in his face. "What do we do?"

A bright flame shines, catching everyone's attention. Captain Falcon rises from a knee, enamored in a crimson fire.

"We fight," he says. "As long as at least one of us takes a stand, there's hope. The only time there's a 100% chance of defeat is if we give in. And I refuse to accept that reality."

For a moment, only the sound of beastly grunts can be heard. Falco sighs.

"You know," he says. "I'm getting real sick of hearing your mouth. So from here on out…"

He raises two laser pistols.

"...It better start with 'Falcon.'"

Captain Falcon smiles.

Giga Mac is knocked on his back. Giga Bowser begins to fall towards him but is sent to the side by a right hook.

 _Why are those assholes just standing around and talking?_ He thinks as he struggles Giga Bowser, who in turn breathes flame on his face.

Lasers rain from above, striking Giga Bowser on his shell. However, this time he raises up in pain. He turns around to see the Arwing flying diagonally towards him. Several feet away, two figures hop out of the vehicle. Giga Bowser brings his left claw back to swipe at it. However, before he can make contact he sees paper crafted grenades attached by string. He looks up and sees Sheik in midair. She pulls her hands back, taking all of the pins off in the process. Ten tiny sky blue vortexes pull in Giga Bowser. An enormous explosion appears.

Falco looks up in shock. He presses a button on the head piece on the side of his head.

"And where the hell were you?"

Fox pulls out a red item capsule. Then he presses a button on his headpiece using his free hand.

"Saving your asses," he replies in a stoic manner.

Flame shoots out of the cloud. Giga Bowser stomps his way into visibility. However, he is grabbed by the shoulder by a green boxing glove from behind. He is sucked into the black cloud and a giant thud can be heard.

 _My friends,_ Zelda's voice rings inside the minds of every fighter present. _Fret no more. The calvary has arrived._

Giga Mac stumbles backwards, falling over. Two claws strike his cheeks in succession.

 _Mac!_ Mewtwo shouts without any ounce of patience or sympathy. _MOVE!_

Giga Mac's head shoots up. He somersaults backwards. As Giga Bowser takes a step, a black cannon ball hits him in the back of the head.

The Koopalings with Kamek minus Larry close in quickly. Roy's Jr. Clown Car sprouts wheels and he speeds in, crashing into Giga Bowser's left foot. Wendy and Larry release Mecha Koopa bombs and Morton picks them up one at a time before launching them Giga Bowser's right shin. He looks down uninterested. Two clown cars fall on his head before exploding. Above him, Ludwig and Bowser Jr. fall towards their out of control father's head. When they arrive at his face, they pull out giant black hammers and swing down on his forehead.

Giga Bowser is now face to face with a very angry looking Lemmy. In his cocked back right hand is a red Bob-omb.

"This is for Larry!" he shouts at the top of his lungs. He shoves the Bob-omb into Giga Bowser's left nostril. It explodes in an instant. Lemmy reappears besides Iggy in a violet mist alongside Kamek.

Unfortunately, Giga Bowser doesn't seemed to be all that pleased by this sudden onslaught by his children and lackey. He reverts into his shell and rapidly spins towards them, sending each of them flying in several directions.

Fox throws the capsule towards Giga Mac. It breaks on him, and 5 Super Mushrooms come pouring out.

Giga Bowser looks down on the unconscious Koopalings with disdain. He snorts at the thought that these mere gnats thought they could stand up against him. He slowly turns around but is met with a fist the size of his head sinking into his right cheek. He is sent flying a few feet back before sliding on a hault. He lay on his shell, rubbing his cheek. Rectangular fragments of his skin fall of like a crumbled stone. Behind his wound is a black vortex. Spins in his shell into a savage fighting position, growling. His growling subsides as he looks up to a Giga Mac that stands half a torso taller than him.

Giga Mac now stands half a torso taller than Giga Bowser. He delivers an uppercut into his stomach, sending him a several feet into the air, but not high enough to knock him out. He lands on his shell, stunned from the pain of the blow. Giga Mac closes the gap between them in seconds and cocks his right arm back, intending to land a finishing blow. A crack appears on his stomach, oozing purple electricity.

To his surprise, Giga Bowser appears to be several times larger than him as he punches him in the stomach.

"What…?" Mac says with a sense of dread and despair. He looks at his normal sized arms in confusion.

Giga Bowser raises his head. He lifts his right hand towards Little Mac.

"Dammit Mac," Ike shouts "Get out of there!"

Giga Bowser swats his massive finger, plucking Little Mac. However, he uses his Counter, propelling him forward as he delivers an ineffective uppercut to the behemoth's jaw. He then hops over his head and runs off.

Captain Falcon, Ike, Marth, Sonic, and Samus dash towards the creature, spreading out in order to both distract him and gain a wide range of attack. Predictably, Sonic is the first to reach Giga Bowser. The behemoth timed Sonic's movements and lifted his foot as soon as the squad of fighters began running only to drop it once Sonic is in range. However, Sonic skidded before hand, stopping himself and giving him just enough time to change his path of running 180 degrees.

Next, Captain Falcon leaps into the air and delivers a Raptor Boost towards Giga Bowser's snout to no avail. Upon landing he is met with leisurely kick, knocking him several meters back. In the air, Ike and Marth prepare for an assault. Giga Bowser aggressively swats them away with his right arm and they sink into the dirt.

Ike slides into the base of the podium used to hit sandbag. He feels an immense pain coming from his head. For a few seconds, he is unable to open his eyes. He slowly opens them to a several blurry orange and blue lights. When his eyes regain their proper focus, he sees Samus, Sonic, Toon Link, Duke, Willard, Sheik, Fox, and Falco putting up their best defense against the seemingly unstoppable killing machine. Fox performs several flips in the air with Mario cocking his flame lit fist back next to him. Giga Bowser responds by spinning around in his shell and knocking them away in several directions. Ike tries to stand back up but is stopped by an unbearable pain coming from his right arm. He looks at it and sees that forearm lays limply in an unnatural angle. It is broken.

He sees Captain Falcon engaging Giga Bowser in a stare off several feet away from him. His torso bounces up and down with each pant. His entire body feels something like jello. Anybody can tell just by looking at him. However, instead of giving in to fatigue or even admitting that there is a slimmer of a chance that he might lose, he clenches his body up and fire enshrouds his body. This act can be perceived as a taunt but in reality, this was Captain Falcon's way of showing that he will not submit.

The behemoth took it as a sign of disrespect and charges forward. Captain Falcon does the same, jumping into the air to perform a The Knee. However, his timing is off and Giga Bowser was able to strike first, sending Captain Falcon hurtling across the air like a high speed missile.

Ike grunts and grits his teeth. "D…damn it," he spouts out. "This… wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this… not like this…"

"We're sorry…"

Ike turns to his left and sees Roy crawling towards him.

"This was...we were...we were just playing a stupid prank! It wasn't supposed to end up like this! We're sorry we let it get this far! It's all our fault...We're sorry! We're sorry...we're sorry…"

Roy keeps on repeating himself as he crawls over to Ike and hugs his side tightly, sobbing. Ike looks ahead.

He sees the bodies of the friends he has fought alongside with littered across the stadium. However, none of seem to interest Giga Bowser at the moment. He focuses on Ike groveling in pain. Slowly, he starts making his way over to him. The ground shakes with each step. A stream of sweat falls down Ike's temple. Then, Giga Bowser's pace slowly picks up as if to say "Yes, I could easily kill you now if I wanted to. But I want you to know. I want you to count down every millisecond to you inevitable demise. I want you to know that no matter what you do, you will die where you stand. _And I want to memorize the look on your face as you let that fear sink in."_

Then, Ike puts his left hand on Roy's head. Roy looks up to see him with a weak smile and blood falling past his forehead.

"No need to cry little one," he says. Using Roy's head as support and shakily stands up. He grabs his sword with his good arm and slowly walks forward. "I may not be left handed, but this will have to do." Giga Bowser stops in his tracks to observe.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Roy protests.

"Get to a safe distance," Ike replies, ignoring Roy's question. "I'm not going to sit there and die while some child cries into my side." Ike squeezes his sword. He raises his arm and points it at the juggernaut several meters ahead. "Do you hear me, demon?! I don't care how many lives you've destroyed. I don't care how powerful you are. If you want to end my life, you're going to have to pry it from my cold. Dead. Hands! And it _won't_ be easy."

A few feet away from Roy, Marth and Falco observe the scene before them.

Falco groans.

"Dammit, he's gonna get himself killed!" he says.

Ike spins his sword twice before holding it out in front of him.

"Now come, _you ugly son of a bitch._ "

Giga Bowser's eyes widen in rage. He sprints forward. Fire spews out of his mouth as he roars. Ike charges forward, shouting as well. Roy reaches out to him.

Two figures jump into the air. The sky is painted orange as they collide.

But not for the reason you think. Let's rewind for a moment.

"HADOUKEN!"

An orange ball of energy shoots past Ike's side. Simultaneously, the fire in front of him is being absorbed into a blue sphere of light. Then, a red haired swordsman jumps into the air. He swings his sword upward and it catches on fire.

"Aim for his chest!" he shouts.

Ike changes the angle of his strike at the last second and goes for a downward strike. Together. The two strike Giga Bowser on the purple crack on his chest. Purple lightning and fire errupt as he roars as he stumbles backwards from a few feet.

After Ike lands, he looks around and sees a few familiar faces. Behind him he sees Mewtwo, Ness, Zelda, and male Robin. Lucas walks to his left with a smile. An stranger wearing a sleeveless white gi, no shoes, and a red headband shuffles to his right.

"Ah, well this isn't a pleasant surprise," Ike says. "I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be on the same battlefield as the legendary Ryu. I look forward to being your friend."

"Thank you," Ryu replies. "That's very humbling."

"What? I don't get a greeting?"

Ike turns to the red haired swordsman smirking at him.

Tears flow down Marth's eyes.

"No way…" Fox whispers in utter disbelief.

"Hey Marth. Don't tell me you're crying over a few boo boos?"

"Welcome back Roy," Marth responds with a smile.

"Uh," Roy, the koopaling, replies. "I never left…?"

"Don't think too hard about it, child," Mewtwo says.

A few seconds pass before Roy, the koopaling, puts it together.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"


	13. Chapter 13

Giga Bowser arches its back and releases a mighty roar directed towards the sky. Despite the relentless attacks it received moments before, it pays no heed to the army of heroes before him.

Ryu leaps into the air, a few feet away from Giga Bowser, and cocked his arms back.

"Hadouken!"

A blue fire-ball of sorts slowly shoots towards Giga Bowser. Initially, it was alarmed because of the previous version of the attack. But after realizing how slow it was, its sense of danger drops. It crouches down in preparation for a jump.

"PK Thunder!"

A purplish ball of energy with a tail of electricity goes through Giga Bowser's shell in a circular movement. It still manages to jump, but the Hadouken collided with it. A small blue explosion stuns it.

"Excellent," Zelda says as she gives Sonic a Heart Container. "Some attacks can still invoke stun frames."

As it declares its battle cry, purple electricity crackled from a series of rectangular cracks on its chest.

Sonic looks at Marth and points at the creature with his thumb.

"So," he says. "Years of experience is telling me that glowing crack on his chest is his weak spot. Focusing our attacks there might do us some good."

Falco pulls out another laser pistol from a holster on his left side. He twirls it in his hand.

"S'not a bad idea," he says. "But even as fast as you are, thas a lot easier said than done."

Ignoring Falco, Sonic runs along with Captain Falcon and Samus towards the towering creature.

"…And, he's gone."

Fox dashes past Falco while looking back at him. Ryu and Lucas follow.

"Don't mind us," he says. "We'll be busy being useful by keeping him busy. Think up a plan. And do it fast."

"H-hey!"

Afterwards, he flips into the air and spins his body around to deliver a spinning side kick to Giga Bowser's forearm. There was a thud but Giga Bowser did not react.

Falco starts to run but then stopped. He turns his head to Marth.

"Do that thing he said to do just now."

"You mean think?" says Marth.

"Don't sass me, _Boy_. By the way, that's a pun. Think about _that_."

Falco runs ahead with two laser pistols aimed in front of him.

"What? What could you possibly mean…ohhhhhhh. You cheeky cock…"

Ike and Roy run past Marth but he placed his right hand on Roy's shoulder.

 _Robin_ , he thinks. _You mentioned a plan. Speak._

 _Of course,_ he says. _If you noticed, there's a crack in Giga Bowser's chest._

With a battle cry, Duke runs past Marth and Willard silently followed.

 _What of it?_

 _Logic would dictate that would be his weakness. But, why is that area more susceptible to damage than any other part of his seemingly invincible stature?_

 _I don't know, I'm not a video game designer. I just cut things and don't question it._

 _Ever notice how Bowser has yet to make an actual appearance this entire time?_

Marth slightly raises his head. Roy folds his arms and taps his right foot. As he did so, the other Roy forcefully slides into the ground a few feet on his right.

 _You're not making any sense._

 _Think about it. This entire time, you've been fighting this hell spawn that only vaguely resembles our peer. But Marth, regardless of our role in this crazy amalgamation of universes seemingly made purely for the entertainment of omniscient gods, we're still beings of autonomy. We can make our own decisions. We have memories, feelings, and critical thinking skills._

 _…_

 _I wasn't there so I'm a bit lacking on the details but Bowser of all people should remember that calamity better than anyone, no matter how hard he tries to forget._

Roy plays Super Smash Bros. for 3DS on a red 2DS while his ally held him against his will. His battle cry and Marth's scream can be heard.

 _Coupled with the fact that he's gotten stronger both physically and mentally by improving his posture, in no small part due to Wii Fit Trainer, there's no way this should have happened again._

Sonic slides across the ground, stopping a few feet to Marth's left. He rests his head on his palm, crosses his legs, and stares at the swordsmen impatiently. Roy shrugs his shoulders in response.

 _Robin, sum it up._

 _The mammoth that stands before you is_ literally _only a shell of our former cohort._

 _Beg your pardon?_

 _Despite his performance improving, Bowser has expressed dissatisfaction with the latest tier lists. He said he felt inadequate since he keeps going down despite his ever-increasing efforts in favor of characters that have been declared universally superior like Fox or Shiek. Even Sonic, who was mid-tier in Brawl, has been catapulted to the top during regular revisions and he's barely changed. At least in comparison to Bowser. Coupled with the fact that he feels like he's not a good example to the Koopalings, there's been a gnawing sense of self-doubt and hatred in the back of his mind._

Sonic spin jumps into the air. With a cry, Ike slams on his back into his previous spot with a loud thud. His body bounces high off the ground, flips vertically, and rolls for a few feet before his stomach drags across the ground, lifting dirt and blades of grass. Pushing off the ground, he spat out some dirt and grass and turns his head to Marth.

"The BLOODY HELL?!" he says with a comically bitter demeanor. "Are you two planning a date?!"

"Yes," Roy shouts back covering the sides of his mouth with his hands to make an impromptu mega phone. Then, he raised his sword and a beautiful orange explosion burst upward. "A date with _victory!_ "

"Who the fuck is Victory?!"

Roy's posture slumps and he looked dumbfounded in response to that serious question.

Marth ignores the chaos around him and continues his conversation with Robin.

 _So, what you're saying is that this Giga Bowser is some sort of…subconscious manifestation?_

 _Correct. His feelings are out of control and welling out, manifesting in a blight of rage that indiscriminately causes harm. Bowser is trapped in a cage of his own feelings. And with every being he defeats, he only becomes stronger. He's felled so many of our allies that it's gotten to a point where_ we can't defeat him in a straight forward battle.

Marth's eyes open wide and his pupils shrink. His jaw goes limp. Roy notices and put his hands on his shoulders to lightly shake him.

"Hey, Marth," he says. "Marth, what troubles you? Besides the Armageddon dragon turtle?"

"Then…" Marth says out loud, oblivious to his surroundings. Kirby is flung towards him at frightening speed but Roy tackles him to the ground. With a loud impact, the pink puff bounces off the ground.

"Marth?!"

"Then…" Marth places his left hand over his mouth. Even though he was looking at him with wide eyes, he did not seem to notice Roy. His face grows pale as if he was about to vomit. "…How do we win?"

 _Simple,_ Robin says without a hint of stress or dread. This catches Marth off guard, making him raise an eyebrow, prompting Roy to do the same. _With one the most cliched plot devices ever._

Giga Bowser slams his foot onto the ground. A massive shockwave shakes the entire arena. Ryu, Samus, Donkey Kong, and Luigi who were close boy were swept off their feet. The gust of wind slapped them like a large steel plate and sent them into a rapid tail spin through the air.

He swings his enormous claws down, aimed directly at Kirby. He doesn't have enough time to jump out the way. Giga Bowser's irregularly long hit boxes can outlast his dodging frames. And his shield can be shattered upon impact, leaving him stunned an open for follow up. The Star Warrior is at a lost for what to do.

Despite that, he does not ricochet from the ground with blinding speed and a deafening noise.

A tall figure jumps in front of him wielding a large, golden sword. Before the unstoppable hit connects, Ike uses his Counter to cancel the hit boxes. Ike grabs Kirby with his left hand, places him under his armpit, and back flips to avoid a tail swipe that mows chunks of the ground.

Red and blue lines of heat hit his chest. Giga Bowser groans and puts his forearm up to block them.

 _Why…_

He retreats into his shell and spun around at high speed. Falco and Fox cartwheel several times in opposite directions to avoid being swept up. The attack forms a vacuum which sucks in nearby objects.

 _Why am I…_

An immensely fast spinning, sharp, blue sphere bounces off the back of his head with a dull thud. Roy swings his sword up as it catches fire and rubs across its forearm. Several orange sparks fly before Roy enters a free fall.

 _Why am I not…_

His battle senses taking control, Giga Bowser arches its head back for an attack. However...

"FALCON…"

Before his head can reach the helpless swordsman, Captain Falcon launches a fist enshrouded in a flaming falcon directly at the crack in his chest.

" _PUUUUNCH!_ "

With a devastating impact, Giga Bowser's arms went limp and its jaw dropped. It stumbled backwards a few steps. Purple electricity rapidly crackled from its chest. It grabbed at the cracks with its left arm and lightly squeezed it.

It panted. For the first time since it made its appearance, it showed signs of exhaustion.

Although it would be more accurate to say it sighed.

 _Why am I not good enough?_

Sonic activates an Assist Trophy. The sound of glass breaking is heard.

"Give us a hand, faker?" he says with a smirk

Shadow the Hedgehog sucks his teeth.

"Why not," he says bitterly. "It's the only reason they ever invite me anyway. _Chaos_ …"

Roy jumps in front of Giga Bowser. He pulls his sword back and it becomes surrounded in orange flames.

"Hey Giga Bowser," he says with a smile. "Déjà vu, right?"

Instead of going for a charged attack that would guarantee knock back, Giga Bowser instead opts to swing his hand. But before it can do that…

" _Control!_ "

Giga Bowser's movements slow down. His claw stops an inch short of Roy's face. His expression does not change.

 _Ho-Le-SHIT,_ he thinks.

Marth dramatically points forward.

"Smashers!" he shouts from his diaphragm. "Let's combine our powers!"

"Awwwwww, yeah!" Sonic shouts before crouching into a Spin Dash. On either of his sides, Fox and Falco clench every muscle in their bodies and crackle into flames. Little Mac runs behind them and cocks his right arm back, surrounding it in a blue and red light. Samus stands next to him and charges her laser shot. Ryu and Lucas cock their arms back.

"Shinku…"

"PK…"

An orange ball of fire appears surrounded by lightning bolts. Mew Two places his hands on the sphere and adds a swirling black ball of energy. Robin teleports behind him and charges a yellow energy attack. Kirby stands behind him holding his hammer. Eventually, it catches fire.

Luigi and Peach Jump to the front of the line, the former couching down while the latter swaying her hips side to say while singing a melody. Ike jumps in front of them and brings his sword to the side. Meta-Knight hops in front of them and extends his wings.

"Hello," he says. "Allow me to show you the true meaning of top-tier."

Marth runs ahead of them. Roy turns his head.

"Any day now!" he shouts.

Marth stands next to Roy and cocks his sword back.

From a distance, Captain Falcon squeezes a Masterball in his hand.

"HADOUKEN!"

"FIREEEEEE!"

Kirby swings his flaming hammer forward with a loud impact.

"SHRUUUUUUUYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Robin, Samus, Mew Two, Lucas, and Ryu are blown back by the recoil of combined energy attacks.

Meta-Knight puts his sword in front and enters a rapid spin. Luigi, Peach, Ike, Little Mac, Fox, Falco spiral around the flaming, rainbow-colored sphere.

The ground beneath it disintegrates. When it reaches them, Roy and Marth are added to the spiraling attack.

Shadow grunts.

"Sorry," he says. "That's all the power I can lend. The rest is up to you."

In a pale green light, he vanishes.

Giga Bowser's perception of time returns. It sees a massive, colorful flaming drill heading its way.

"Have you prepared yourself?" Ike asks. "An attack that combines our passion for battle and our steadfast companionship! This is the power of the will of the Smash Brothers! This is the drill that will smash the heavens! Now taaaaake thiiiiis! FURIOUS FRIENDS FOREVER CATASTROPHIC COMRADERY CYCLONE!"

Giga Bowser's legs bend in fear.

"…Yeah," Roy says. "We're not calling it that."

"Eh?! But…!"

"I agree," Lucas says. "That just sounds bad."

"I got this," Meta-Knight says. "TOP TIER TORNADO!"

"But" says Little Mac. "We're not all top tier…?"

"FAST BLAST!" Sonic shouts.

"No," Falco says immediately.

"He didn't even try," says Robin as he places a hand on his forehead.

"Then how about," Marth says. "GIGA …DRILLLLL…SMASHERRRRRRRRRRR!"

The spiraling spectrum fills the stadium with a plethora of sounds that meshed into something incomprehensible. As it closes in on its target, the smashers all release a mighty battle cry. If Giga Bowser was a god, then this would be the attack to end god.

It is mere feet away from Giga Bowser. As powerful as it is, it cannot possibly stop the attack in this moment. It delivers a mighty roar towards the sky. However, it is drowned out by the sound of the unstoppable attack.

The drill continues forward with nothing standing in its way.

"We fucking missed," Falco shouts.

Several feet in the air, Giga Bowser peers down at its foes with a smug smile. It did not matter how they got a time stopping item. To retrieve another one, the magic users and psychics would have to disappear again, considerably cutting their power. Plus, that would leave the retriever open to attack. Giga Bowser would be impervious to stun frames if it was doing a strong enough close-range attack. Plus, their combined effort would take too long to charge and leave them several of them in one place, open to attack.

It was their first and only chance to land that critical blow.

"Hey," Ness says in a grim voice. "You really think we didn't plan for this?"

Enlarged versions of Ness, Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong simultaneously cocked back metal baseball bats in circular motions.

"Oh, yeah," Mario says.

"Hey Meta-Knight," Falco says. "Still feel good ta be on top?"

"Die," Meta-Knight says coldly.

With a loud thud, the drill is sent diagonally in the opposite direction. At the same time, the environment turns dark. It was still daytime but it was like a curtain covered the world.

From the ground, another mighty roar was heard. And a bright, red light shone.

The legendary Pokemon Moltress soars into the air. On top of its head stood on man with his arms folded.

"It was a nice sentiment," Captain Falcon says lowly. "But what good is a combined attack without the flames of passion? Why don't we show them what real team work looks like, aye? Lend me your power!"

Moltress screeches. Captain Falcon flips off the top of its head. He charges back his fist. Fire seeps out of the massive phoenix's mouth. It spreads to the rest of its body.

"MOLTRESS," Captain Falcon shouts.

"A pincer attack?" Robin says. "Niiiiice."

"PUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

"Hope you brought some napkins," Sonic says triumphantly. "This might make you a bit tiery eyed."

Giga Bowser is not powerful enough to stop the two-pronged attack. It fully accepts its fate. An odd sense of closure and serenity fills its mind. It flips its body so that its back faces the ground. Then it retrieves into its shell. It closes its eyes with a slight smile.

The sky is blocked out by a mighty and colorful flash. The Smashers below are forced to shield their eyes from the brightness. Intense heat filled the stadium, making even the air harder to breath in.

Then, a massive spiked shell hits the ground with a tremendous impact that shakes the stadium. The Smashers on the ground level are knocked backwards for several miles.


	14. Chapter 14

p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ike is the first to awaken. He may have broken his fall, but the impact of hitting the ground still knocks him out. He looks at the approaching behemoth dead in the eye./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Tell me something, creature," Ike says before gasping for breath. "For all your savagery, do you know about the power…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser's mouth and eyes take on an orange hue./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Even so, Ike smiles weakly as sweat rolls down his temple./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""…of bonds?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"At that moment, a ferocious cry shakes the arena./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Not literally. And not ferocious in the fierce sense./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser swings its head around. Its once grim expression softens. A new emotion forms on its face. Although it would be more accurate to say it has returns./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"em…Bowser Jr.?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"In the distance, seven Koopalings stand, unarms, naked, except for the tears down their cheeks and the snot in their noses./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""We're sorry," Ludwig says as he looks to the side, frustrated. "We didn't mean for it to get this out of hand! Honest!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emLudwig…it must have taken so much for you to admit that./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah," says Roy with a sniff. "It was just a stupid joke…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""A stupid joke," Morton says./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emRoy…Morton…it's even more surprising to have you two cast aside your pride./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""We just wants to get back at you," says Iggy before swallowing some mucus. "…for bossing us earlier."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emIggy…even you were driven to irrationality?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""If we knew you'd turn out like this," says Wendy. "We would have emnever /embothers with this dumb prank in the first place. Now you've made my make-up smear!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" emWendy…it doesn't matter what you look like. You're still my little princess. But, it hurts to see you like this. Its hurts to /embeem like this in front of you all…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Who cares about your stupid make up?" says Lemmy. "Poor Larry…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emLemmy…and Larry. Did I…?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser closes its eyes and grabs it's the side of its head with its left /emWith its right hand, it squeezes at the pulsating purple cracks on its chest. It cocks its head back and let its arms fly to its sides./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""UGOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"For a fleeting moment, Giga Bowser let its guard down. In that instance, with an iron grip and unshakable will in both arms, Ike jumps into the air and swung up his blade./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The sound of glass shattering is heard. Cracks, yellow rectangles scatters about the air. Ike lands on the ground and collapses on his stomach. With his last remaining strength, he shouts at the top of his lungs./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""BOWSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"In the center of Giga Bowser's chest is a purple void with electricity crackling. But in the center of that is the one and only Koopa King, his limbs trapped by yellow pixels./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Is this the kind of man you arrrrrre?!" shouts Ike with his face is doused in sweat. "Do you abandon your kin just because of petty things that have nothing to do with them?!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Sonic spun towards Giga Bowser's temple./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Bowser," he says solemnly. "Look into your heart. When you think of what matters to you the most, what do you see? What fills you with brimming pride after a long day of…plotting a coup de ta? Is it moving up some ephemeral list made by indecisive nerds? Or is it their smiles and laughter?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"From above, Captain Falcon rams his feet on Giga Bowser's right shoulder./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""You may be a power-hungry tyrant," he says. "You might be a manipulative, conniving scum bag. But there's something separating you from truer tyrants. It's the same thing that lets you go kart racing with your supposed sworn enemy on weekends. Bowser, you have a heart. You have passion, a burning desire to be admired. To cherish and protect."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Mario jumps to the side of the opening in Giga Bowser's chest, pushing against a corner with his hand to prevent himself from falling./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Wah, yo, yippie, yahoo," he says./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Willard joins him on the opposite side./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""He's right," he says. "Even if you tend to ignore them or boss them around, you can't deny your adoration for them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser grits its teeth./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emThat's right…they're my babies. And they mean all the kingdoms in the world to me./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""We don't care what some stupid list says about you," says Bowser Jr. "You're emalways/em top-tier to us."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemOh, cry me a river./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"em?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemAre you truly so weak that you're moved by a couple of sob stories and speeches appealing to your softer side?/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser's eyes lit up into an ominous orange. At the same time, a massive rainfall of sweat pours down Bowser's forehead. His face scrunches and his body spasms./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemIt's no wonder I easily over powers you this time./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emThat's not what happens./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemBut it is. You put in all that work and effort into bettering yourself. But in the end, what did that really amount to? You're too emotional. You're a big, fire breathing baby that can't see past the end of his snout. No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you lie to yourself, you can't run away from your roots. The only thing that matters to you is feeling good about yourself. Not those brats./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emStop it…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemYou only ever employs those runts as a means of extending your own tyranny. In the long run, you couldn't give a Yoshi's tail about what happens to them./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emShut up…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemYou can't shut up your deepest desires, Bowser. I am the manifestation of everything you've ever wants to be. A ruler, a tyrant, a juggernaut… /em/strongstrongfears. emAnd now that you've achieved this state of opulence, you don't need them anymore. You don't need /emanyoneemanymore. In fact, you don't even need a single kingdom anymore./em The world emis your kingdom. And so are these other universes once we blow this pop stand./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emI said shut your mouth!/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemOh, come /em/strongstrongonnnnem, who are you trying to fool? I'm your inner demon, Bowser. Your deepest desires, remember? You can't deny that every second I'm inside you, it feels so good./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemLIES!/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"strongemOh? That sounds a bit like me. Although, I guess technically, you're inside me even though I'm your feelings, which are technically chemical reactions within the brain and other organs…You know, let's not over think this-/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""emEnough./em"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"In a purple flash of light, Mew Two appears. It teleports to the open wound in Giga Bowser's chest. It touches Bowser's forehead. His eyes opens and took on a blue glow. Mew Two's did the same. From a distance, the Koopaling's eyes did as well. They didn't notice but Zelda stood behind them with her arms extends./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Bowser," Mew Two continues. "I command you to feel their feelings. Sympathize with those that you've raises since birth. Feel exactly what it is they feel for you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"At the same time, Sheik stood several meters away. The top of the top. The manifestation of all his complex emotions is only but a short stroll from conquest./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""It is time to choose, Bowser."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He saw a bright, blue light. He looks around and notices he is suddenly in an endless void. Without warning, a film strip zooms past him. Frame by frame, it depicts Bowser Jr. listening dutifully to his father with a smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"A little further back, there is a strip that shows Bowser and Ludwig playing a game of chess. Bowser suddenly smacks the board of the table and grabs Ludwig by the neck. He put him in a headlock and lightly grinds his fist on his forehead. The two share a laughter./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Another strip shows Wendy applying make up to Bowser's face. He had on pink lip stick, red eyeliner, three long lashes on either eye, and purple blush on his cheeks. He admires himself in the mirror and Wendy gave a proud smirk and arches her leg back in bride./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"In another, Bowser leans his upper body back and digs his feet into the ground. He then swung his upper body forward and roars. He looks at Roy do the same. Instead of a savage cry, a burp came out. Roy's cheeks flushes. Bowser lightly taps him on the shell a few times./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"One shows Bowser lifting two Thwomp-Omps attaches to a pole like weights over his chest. Next to him, Morton attempts the same thing with a smaller pair but fell to the left with a loud thud. This causes Bowser to drop his weight on his toe. He hops around on one foot while another is raises at an angle Morton did not know he could of reach./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Another shows Iggy taking notes while Bowser points to a blackboard titled "Koopa Tactics 101: Plumbers are highly vulnerable to touch" and crude drawings of Mario "dying" after running into a Koopa./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"One shows Bowser combing Lemmy's hair. It looks proper and even but then Lemmy rapidly shook his head and everything became undone. Bowser sighs and rubs his right temple with his palm./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The final strip shows Bowser and Larry playing a Mario Kart. Larry came in first place with Bowser in second. In response, he jumps in the air and fist pumps. Bowser picks him up by the under arms and put him on his head. Larry grabs his horns and made car noises with his mouth. Bowser then jogs around the room imitating engine noises. On the top half of the screen, one could see Bowser's character using a Blue Shell while Larry's did his victory lap./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"His face is limp. He couldn't feel any sensation from his body aside from a warmth within his chest. Bowser moves his left hand towards that feeling and gave it a light squeeze./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""What will it be, Bowser?" says Mew Two who seems to appear out of nowhere. "Will you submit to your heart? Or will you submit to your heart of hearts? You must choose. Now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"His snout moves slightly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emI…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser roars but he could not hear himself. He charges forward, knocking off Sonic and Captain Falcon. Mew Two is projects into the air. The ground shook. Flames seeps from the space between its teeth. The only thing it could heart is a slow heartbeat./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emI choose…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Fox shouts. He ran behind Giga Bowser. After getting inches behind it, he jumps onto its scaly shell. Sheik slightly crouches and brought her arms behind her. She pulls out three needles./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emI choose…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Falco shouts Fox's name. Ike clenches his jaw. Marth and Roy looks on in awe./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Fox climbs to top of Giga Bowser's head. With both arms, he tightly grabs it by the hair and pulls back. After a second, he punches the top of its skull with all his might./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Sheik closes her eyes and slowly exhales. She felt the ground beneath her shaking./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"With glowing red eyes, Giga Bowser lungs at her. She leapt towards his face./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"emI choose…!/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Sheik flips over Giga Bowser's head. In response, it archs back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"In a second, she vanishes. There is no trace of Fox either./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"A massive, crimson flame shot out of the stadium. A scorching heat fills the area as it is dyed an ominous color. It lasts for five seconds, but to everyone there it seems like a decade./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Giga Bowser stood still. His upper body faces the burning, blue sky./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"For a moment, it felt satisfied. It decides to explore this new feeling by basking in it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Then, it realizes most of its teeth were completely burns. Before it could ponder why, the sound of glass being breaking erupts from its stomach. Something shot up from its throat into the sky. It blocks out the son./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He yells./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""strongemI CHOOSE THEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!/em/strongem"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"From forty feet in the sky, Bowser slams his rear into Giga Bowser's skull, shattering it into billions of tiny pixels. /p 


	15. Epilogue

p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ike sits with his back faced to Robin. A green light was emitted from his palms. Ike wore an annoyed expression./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""And just where the hell were you most of the time?" he says with spite./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Uh," nervously says Robin as his gaze darts around the room. "Doing some research."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Uh-huh. And tell me, did this research really require three people?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""A-as a matter of fact, it did!"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""No, it didn't," shouts Zelda while rubbing Link's cheek and tapping Toon Link's head. "In fact, most of what he told you were my findings. All he was doing was reading a story book."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ike turns around and folds his arms./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Is that so?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Robin shook his hands./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""B-but-but-buuuuut! It was my idea to use the power of love to beat Giga Bowser, so you can't be entirely mad!"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""…Guess you have a point."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ike drops his arms and turns back around. Robin soon did the same. However, this proves to be his down fall as Ike turns back around and puts him in a headlock./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I can't be entirely mad."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""W-w-w-w-wait, wait! Let's talk this out like two rational Smashers and communicate our feelings like intelligent beingasbhfbahdbhfbhbafahrgh!"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Robin screams unintelligibly as Ike grinds the bottom of his sword against the top of his head./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"From a distance, Marth smils. As he walks through Castle Siege, his eyes wander about./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He sees Donkey Kong twirling with Diddy Kong sitting on his shoulder. Samus puts a hand on Mega Man's shoulder, causing him to shyly look away. Lucario, Pikachu, Charizard, and Jiggly Puff flex and roared. Mr. Game Watch jumped about next to Pac Man who looks surprised. Fox, Falco, Sonic, and Captain Falcon join for a four-way fist pump. Gannondorf stands with his arms folded. Duke gives Willard's son a piggy back ride. Willard chases after Duke with a very concerned smile concealing fear. Villager shows off his ax, which leads to Ness pulling out his bat and Lucas hiding behind him. Peach tightly hugs Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Dr. Mario while Wario shook his rear a few feet away./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Marth strolls over to Paluntina, who is talking to Dark Pit as he stands with his arms folded./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Lady Palutina," Marth says./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Great Marth," Palutina says. "I can't thank you enough for leading the champions of Smash through this tribulation."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""You have my gratitude, but the thanks can't all go to me. It was a team effort."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yes, but a team is only as good as its leader."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""You're far too kind. How goes your platoon?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""The Smashers take priority, so they're being revived first with the 1-Up Mushrooms Zelda and the rest have hacked from the Smash Frameware. But I can just bring them any time, me thinks. Thank the Devs that our resident magicians and psychics survived, otherwise we would have been how they say, totally thwomped."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I'm not sure anybody says that yes, I agree. Our survival was due largely in part to their efforts."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Pit puts his arm around Dark Pits shoulder. He faces his lighter doppelgänger with a look of derision but Pit ignores him./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yep," he says. "Team work works."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Hah, indeed it does."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""By the way, Marth."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yes?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Pit motions him with his free hand to come closer. Marth takes the hint and does so./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I don't mean to alarm anybody right now," he says in a whisper. "But Zelda had a discussion with the Koopalings after the fight. None of the other Smashers told them about the last Giga Bowser incident, yet they somehow knew exactly how to conjure it."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""…And it's doubtful they just knew about it all of a sudden. There's been an agreement to never tell them of all people to protect Bowser's reputation. So, that can only mean…"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Palutena and Dark Pit remain silent in anticipation. Pit nods with a stoic look./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""That's right. It could be a mad man, but somebody informed them. Somebody who wants to seek not only the end of Smash, but the end of reality as we know it."/p 


End file.
